Vyjack works; Normandy overeager ahead of visit with D-Day
vets
Pick Six Racing’s Gotham winner Vyjack worked three furlongs
in :37 under trainer Rudy Rodriguez on Churchill Downs’ fast main
track Thursday morning.
Rodriguez had been
planning to give the Into Mischief gelding a crisp little blowout a couple of
days before the race and decided to do it on the fast track.
“We’re happy. We’ve accomplished what
we came to do,” Rodriguez said. “We did the three-eighths and galloped. I think
we went very, very good, very comfortable.
“I wasn’t worried about the time. It
was a little maintenance thing that we were scheduled to do. I’m happy that we
were able to do it. If it had rained, I may not have done it. Luckily, the track
was in very good shape and we took advantage of it.”
Rodriguez said the short work was intended to put the horse on his toes two days
before the race. It’s something of an old-school approach that Rodriquez learned
from trainers he worked for during his career as a jockey and exercise
rider, Dick Dutrow and his son, Richard Dutrow Jr., and the Hall of Famer Bobby
Frankel.
“I didn’t want to go to fast. I didn’t want to go and blow everything
out of him,” Rodriguez said. “I wanted to sharpen him up a little bit. I think
we accomplished that.”
Fox Hill Farms’ Wood Memorial runner-up Normandy Invasion schooled in the gate Thursday and had a spirited 1
1/2-mile gallop with exercise rider Javier Herrera.
The Tapit colt galloped
in the middle of the track and was aggressive for two or three furlongs.
Herrera’s feet were in the proverbial dashboard as he tried to regain control
over the headstrong colt.
“After he stood in the gate he wanted out to go out and gallop a little strong,
but he pulled up good and came back good,” trainer Chad Brown said. “That’s him.
He’s really sharp right now. We’re happy.
“He ended his gallop a little quick, but I’m OK with it.”
Normandy Invasion has a history of
coming out of the gate slowly and Brown said the visit to the gate was a
reminder of what is ahead.
“In the Wood he did good after we
stood him,” Brown said. “So we did the same routine that we did before the
Wood.”
Brown said he was satisfied with
drawing post 5 for the Kentucky Derby and that position would give
jockey Javier Castellano some flexibility.
“I’m not going to request that Javier
put this horse in any specific spot. I want to leave it up to him,” Brown said.
“I just want him to break cleanly and give him the option to put him where he
wants.”
Brown said the Normandy Invasion is
handling the surface well.
“This horse is so sharp right now, you
just have to hold him on the ground,” he said. “He’s really full of himself.”
Describing the colt as “sharp” is a
positive, Brown said.
“If you’ve seen his other races and
his come-from-behind style, this horse has been maybe a little lethargic early.
It takes him a while to get interested and come with his late run,” Brown said.
“Right now he really has running on his mind from the word go. We started to see
that before the Wood and he placed himself in a good spot early and gave himself
a chance to win.
“I think we’re going to see more of that in the Derby. I think
he’s going to place himself in a good spot.”
Normandy Invasion’s owner, Rick
Porter, is hosting four World War II veterans with connections to Normandy for
the Kentucky Derby. Porter said that Alan Reeves of San Diego, who saw action at
Normandy, reached out to ask whether there would be any involvement with
veterans with the horse.
Porter liked the idea and has invited Reeves and three
veterans of the D-Day landing at Normandy, J.J. Witmeyer of New Orleans and two
Ohioans, Ray Woods and Bill Wilch, to be his guests for the weekend.
“I just want to shake their hands,
give them a Normandy Invasion hat and make them feel welcome,” Porter said.
Porter said the project is likely to
draw some attention to what happened when Allied troops stormed the beaches of
Normandy on June 6, 1944.
“I’m hoping that it will bring some
awareness to young people because so many people watch the Derby,” he said.
“A
lot of young people don’t realize what the D-Day was and the Normandy invasion
and I hope this brings some more focus to it.”
According to the Fox Hill Farm Facebook page, the veterans will get to meet
the colt at Brown’s barn Friday morning before attending the races on Derby Day.
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