Moreno returned to the main track
Thursday for the first time since upsetting the Grade 1 Whitney on August 2 at
Saratoga.
The four-year-old gelded son of Ghostzapper jogged two easy
miles Thursday and Friday and likely will stay on that regimen leading up to an
engagement in the Grade 1, $600,000 Woodward on August 30 at the Spa.
“He’ll work seven days out (before the Woodward),” trainer Eric Guillot
said.
After breaking tardily in the Whitney, Moreno rushed
between horses to the lead under jockey Junior Alvarado and set measured
fractions of :47 2/5 for the half-mile, 1:11 1/5 for six furlongs and 1:35 2/5 for
the mile, always at least a length in front of the rest of the field.
He
repelled a challenge from Itsmyluckyday in the stretch and won by 1 1/4 lengths,
getting the 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.
The colorful Guillot said he has heard rumors that a
“rabbit” might be employed to occupy Moreno in the Woodward, and he said he
doesn’t mind what the opposition plans.
“If they have to do that, it makes me feel great,” he said.
“Do they not realize where I come from? I’ve been hunting rabbit all my life.
I’ve been skinning rabbit since I was a kid and eating a baloney sandwich with
the same hand. Do you think a rabbit’s going to hurt me? Come on.”
Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com