McPeek looking for Pure Fun to overcome late start with an
Oaks win
Grade 1 winner Pure Fun galloped one mile
on Wednesday during the special Derby/Oaks training period under exercise rider Jose Cano.
The Pure Prize filly, entering Friday’s Grade 1, $1 million Kentucky Oaks off a seventh
against males in Keeneland’s Lexington, didn’t get her first timed
work of 2013 until mid-February and has been playing catch up with her
conditioning since. There were no physical problems that forced her to be away
for so long, trainer Ken McPeek said, but she needed a break after eight starts
as a juvenile, culminating in December’s Hollywood Starlet.
“We gave her time off, which is typical for us with
two-year-olds,” McPeek explained. “But she ran late into the season so she was later
getting back into the game. She gained a bit of weight. I wanted to have her
ready for the Honeybee, which is a dirt race, but she just wasn’t ready yet. She
was still a couple of works behind schedule.
“And then we chose the Bourbonette, which was not exactly the surface or the
timing that I wanted. That didn’t go well because she came out of that race with
a slight fever. I thought I was going to come back in the Fantasy but that didn’t work either.
“I was kind of in between and was like, well, what do I do
now? There weren’t any more preps after that; the only one I could find was the
Lexington. Again, it wasn’t the surface or the timing I wanted but she needed
the race in order to be competitive this weekend.”
While both of her starts this year have been disappointing,
Pure Fun’s most recent race over the Churchill Downs surface — a 9 1/4-length
allowance win in November — allows for hope that she could still put it all
together on Friday.
“She likes this ground,” McPeek said. “I do think she’s a
dirt horse. We’ve got her ready and I’m pleased with the way it’s gone. It was a
little unconventional but all of them are.”
Juvenile filly champion Beholder was out for
a 1 1/2-mile gallop Wednesday morning during the Derby/Oaks
training period following Churchill Downs’ renovation break. Jockey-turned-exercise rider David Nuesch
had piloting duties on the bay daughter of Henny Hughes as trainer Richard Mandella looked on.
Nuesch, along with two Mandella’s stable workers, had flown
on the plane that brought Beholder, as well as the Humana Distaff-bound stakes
mare Rumor, to Louisville, Kentucky, from California. He’s worked with Beholder since she
came into the Mandella barn early last year.
“She’s a smart one,” Nuesch said. “And she’s a bit of a
drama queen. She’ll overreact sometimes; jump at something she sees or bothers
her. Then other times something will happen and she doesn’t turn a hair. She
does it all on her terms. She’s a good-feeling filly and those kind have a right
to be full of themselves.
“Last year when we won the Breeders’ Cup and she had such a great year, it
was hard to believe she was only a two-year-old. She did so many things just
like she was an old horse that sometimes I forgot who she was.”
Beholder, who was listed as the 7-2 co-second choice in
the Kentucky Oaks, drew post 3 for the nine-furlong
race. Was Mandella OK with that?
“I’m fine with it,” he said. “I’m just happy to be there.”
Beholder was scheduled to school in the paddock Wednesday with horses from
the 5TH race at Churchill Downs.
Rose to Gold walked the shedrow at Barn 43 Wednesday morning, a plan she will
follow Thursday morning and Friday morning for trainer Sal Santoro. Listed at 15-1 on the morning-line,
the Friends Lake filly drew post
position 9 for Friday’s Oaks and will be ridden by Calvin Borel.
“I would have preferred somewhere from three through six,
but it is what it is,” Santoro sighed. “I am confident in Calvin and whatever he
feels is the right thing, he’ll do it.”
Rose to Gold was scheduled to school with horses in
Wednesday’s 1ST race at Churchill.
“She never has had an issue at the gate or in the paddock,” Santoro said.
“She is pretty level-headed. I know there is no way you can replicate 100,000
people. It will probably be like Keeneland where everybody is close. The day she
won the Fantasy, there were 30,000 there that day, so this will be three times
more.”
The latest forecast for Friday is for temperatures in the
mid-70s with a 10 percent chance of rain. Rose to Gold is two-for-two on sloppy
tracks, including the 4 1/2-length victory in the Fantasy.
“The mud at Oaklawn the day of the Fantasy was so deep that
the woman who presented the trophy took her shoes off to cross the track. She
said she could wash her feet, but not the shoes,” Santoro remarked. “So, if you see
somebody lighting a novena candle in the grandstand, it’s me.”
The 30-1 morning-line odds on Seaneen Girl for the Oaks on Friday don’t concern trainer Bernie
Flint.
“No pain, no gain,” Flint said. “She’s always been a
longshot. Most of these classic races, like the Kentucky Derby, I don’t care
who’s the favorite. They’ve always got a favorite. Very seldom do they win, so
go from there. The Oaks is the same way. It will be the same way, because I’ve
got a feeling I’m going to get them…I’ve got ’em where I want ’em.”
Seaneen Girl went off at 19-1 when she finished second in
the Mazarine at Woodbine, 31-1 when she won the Golden Rod at Churchill Downs
and 24-1 when she finished third in the Fair Grounds Oaks.
The Spring at Last filly galloped 1 1/2 miles Wednesday under exercise
rider Edward “Rocky” Seely.
“Wonderful,” Seely said. “She came out of her work (Monday) in very, very
good shape. She’s going as good as she’s been going.”
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