Tapiture, Hoppertunity work in driving rain storm

Tapiture seeks to become the first KJC winner since Super Saver to win the Kentucky Derby (Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography) “It felt like the priest’s round of golf in Caddyshack,” trainer Steve Asmussen said of Tapiture’s half-mile work through an epic early Monday morning storm at Churchill Downs. “Only, thank goodness, we didn’t get struck by lightning at the end of it.” The Kentucky Jockey Club and Southwest winner and exercise rider Abel Flores hit the track at 6:15 a.m. (EDT) and headed the wrong way (clockwise in racing parlance) in preparation for their final pre-Kentucky Derby workout. Within three minutes, as they walked in tandem with Asmussen and his pony to their outside, the sky opened up and pounded Churchill Downs with what a few local horsemen said was the worst weather they could remember seeing horses train in. The Asmussen barn, though, preaches the importance of routine above all else, so Tapiture and his handlers proceeded as if it were any normal morning under the Twin Spires.

“You just do what you do,” Asmussen said. “It’s very comfortable to be here
at Churchill. This racetrack handles water amazingly. It gives you a lot of
confidence having had several horses run a lot in the afternoons here over the
last 15 years or so.”

Sheets of rain blew sideways and a deafening crack of lightning, which may
have been the one that knocked out a bank of lights on the far turn, marked the
start of the work as the Tapit colt broke off from the half-mile pole. Unfazed
by the weather and seemingly relishing the sloppy surface, Tapiture stayed well
off the rail, rolled through an opening quarter in :24 3/5 and finished the
four-furlong move in :50. Clockers caught the five-furlong gallop-out in 1:04
4/5.

The work unfolded at 6:30 a.m. and by 6:45 Churchill official suspended
training temporarily because of the dangerous circumstances.

Back at Barn 38, as the storm picked up yet again, Asmussen welcomed soaking
reporters under the dry cover of his shedrow.

“I’m very happy to get it in,” Asmussen said. “I loved how he moved over it.
I can’t say enough about Abel, under those conditions, being able to do what we
wanted. He hit 50 right on and that’s what we were aiming for with the horse.”

Asmussen typically does not ask much of his workers in their final work
before an important stakes engagement.

“He’s got a beautiful stride to him,” the trainer said. “He’s an extremely
efficient mover. I’m definitely happy to get it in before they announced the
track’s closed.”

Hoppertunity hopes to end the 130+ year losing streak of unraced two-year-olds in the Kentucky Derby (Oaklawn Park/Coady Photography) Rebel winner Hoppertunity breezed a half-mile in :48 during the rain storm. Under jockey Martin Garcia and working in company with stakes-winning stablemate Drill, Hoppertunity covered the first furlong in :12 and was timed in :24 1/5 for a quarter-mile. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:13 2/5 and seven furlongs in 1:27 2/5. Hoppertunity started out two lengths behind Drill and finished on even terms. Strong storms punctuated by thunder and lightning passed through Louisville before 7 a.m. The dirt surface was renovated and then floated to keep it from being damaged by the downpour and track officials announced that it would not be renovated again prior to the special training time for Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks horses at 8:30. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert decided he would try to take advantage of what might be the best conditions of the morning and train the horses right away. He had Garcia breeze Kentucky Oaks candidate Ria Antonia and then Hoppertunity.

“I sent him out because I was worried about these storms coming in,” Baffert
said. “Then they said they were going to float the track and they said there was
going to be one renovation then and none later. So I was in a little bit of a
panic mode and called the audible to go with the filly first if it was good and
safe.

“Then I brought him out and he worked really well with Drill. Usually Drill
wouldn’t work well on this and today he did. He’s a really good work horse. We
gave him a little bit of a head start this time — the last time Drill went to
the eighth pole and didn’t want to work, but today he stayed with him. They work
together all the time and what they did today was a normal work.

“It was a good work. I’m glad I got the work in. He (Hoppertunity) looked
great. He was reaching out well. Got it in and got it out of the way. I can
relax now, sit around and go buy my tickets.”

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