Charitable Man will work after the break, going a half-mile with exercise
The lightly raced Summer Bird will breeze seven furlongs after the break
“We have Joe Talamo to ride Summer Bird in the Belmont, but Edgar said he
Ice also said Summer Bird will be equipped with blinkers for the first time
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“I think it will help him be more focused down the lane,” he said. “Maybe he
won’t drop so far back.”
Summer Bird, a son of 2004 Belmont winner Birdstone, has been doing “very
well” since arriving at Belmont Park Tuesday from Louisiana, Ice said.
“He came out of the Derby really good,” said the trainer. “He’s put on weight
and he’s blossoming at the right time. What I really liked about the Derby was
the way he galloped out. I think the distance will suit him.”
In other Belmont news:
Trainer Todd Pletcher will send DUNKIRK (Unbridled’s Song) out Monday morning
at Belmont Park as he continues preparations for the Belmont.
“I haven’t decided how far he will go,” Pletcher said. “But he will go after
the break.”
The gray colt breezed a half-mile in a bullet :47.24 last Monday in his first
move since finishing 11th behind Mine That Bird in the Kentucky
Derby. Two starts back, Dunkirk was a good second to Quality Road (Elusive
Quality) in the Florida Derby (G1).
At Churchill Downs on Friday, Kentucky Derby upsetter and Preakness S. (G1)
runner-up MINE THAT BIRD (Birdstone) galloped two miles before the renovation
break under exercise rider Charlie Figueroa. Trainer Chip Woolley said Mine That
Bird may work Monday.
“Something light, like three-eighths,” Wooley said. “If he works, I’ll
probably wait until after the break.”
Woolley plans to give Mine That Bird his serious Belmont tune-up the
following Monday, June 1, and send the gelding to New York by plane on June 3.
Originally sold as a yearling for $9,500, Mine That Bird was purchased by his
current connections for $400,000 last fall, but his performance in the first two
legs of the Triple Crown have sparked interest.
“We have had a couple of inquiries,” Woolley said.
Also scheduled to work at Churchill on Memorial Day is Preakness winner
RACHEL ALEXANDRA (Medaglia d’Oro), who galloped early Friday morning with
Dominic Terry up.
Jockey Calvin Borel guided both Mine That Bird and Rachel Alexandra to their
respective classic victories. The Louisiana native would be attempting a
personal sweep of the Triple Crown in the Belmont, but his mount has yet to be
determined.
Borel has first call on Rachel Alexandra, whom he also rode to a
record-setting romp in the Kentucky Oaks (G1), but her connections have not
committed to run in the Belmont. Woolley is hoping to get Borel back on Mine
That Bird if the filly doesn’t run, and the trainer is expected to name a rider
Monday.
Borel could become the first jockey to sweep the Triple Crown riding
different horses, but to agent Jerry Hissam, his rider already has achieved a
Triple Crown.
“He won the Oaks, Derby and Preakness,” Hissam said. “If he wins the Belmont,
what would that be?”
Let’s call it a “Calvin Slam.”
Only one other rider has won the same three races in the same year as Borel
and that was Hall of Famer Don Brumfield in 1966. Brumfield rode Native Street
to victory in the Oaks and then won the Derby and Preakness aboard Kauai King
before finishing fourth aboard the Derby winner in the Belmont.
Hissam has a lot more on his plate these days than just lining up mounts for
Borel.
“He is going to New York on Tuesday, June 2, to tape the ‘Late Show with
David Letterman’ that will air June 5,” Hissam said. “CNN is shooting something
this week for Belmont Day. NYRA has something on June 2 at Madison Square Garden
and after the Belmont, ’60 Minutes’ is coming to shoot a 10- to 12-minute
segment that is supposed to air in September.”