Work All Week breezes five-eighths ahead of Smile Sprint

Work All Week gutted out the win in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint over defending champion Secret Circle (Breeders’ Cup Ltd.) Reigning sprint champion Work All Week (City Zip) breezed five furlongs in :59 2/5 Sunday morning in preparation for a planned start in the $250,000 Smile Sprint H. (G2), a Breeders’ Cup “Win & You’re In” contest at Gulfstream Park on July 5. The Roger Brueggemann-trained gelding, who captured the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) at Santa Anita last November, turned in the fastest of 16 clockings recorded at the distance over the fast Churchill Downs Training Center surface. It was the fifth in a series of workouts since Work All Week bruised a foot in his 2015 debut at Churchill in the Aristides S. (G3) on May 30. The Illinois-bred six-year-old finished second behind Alsvid (Officer), also a prominent Smile candidate. “The work went the way we planned. He kind of did it easy,” said Richard Papiese, who campaigns the sprinting star with his wife, Karen, under the colors of Midwest Thoroughbreds Inc. “We’ll see how he comes out of it. “His foot doesn’t seem to be bothering him. He seems to be responding. The plan is to work probably next Sunday. If everything’s ‘a go,’ he’ll get on a plane.”

The Smile Sprint will be one of nine stakes, four graded,
on the July 5 Summit of Speed program, which will also be highlighted by the
$250,000 Princess Rooney S. (G2), another Breeders’ Cup “Win & You’re In” event.

Work All Week has finished no worse than second in his 15
races since a sixth-place finish in his November 11, 2012, debut. The chestnut,
who has won 12 of those starts, concluded his 2014 season with a triumph in the
Phoenix S. (G3) at Keeneland and a half-length score over defending champion
Secret Circle (Eddington) in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

“He’s about as honest as you can get,” said Papiese, whose
Illinois-based racing operation has led the nation in victories for five years
running. “We’re looking forward to running him at Gulfstream and be a part of
it.”

Meanwhile, at Gulfstream Park Sunday morning, Honors Stable
Corp.’s Wildcat Red breezed an easy furlongs in 1:02 over the fast dirt in preparation for a
start on the Summit of Speed program, most likely in the Smile Sprint.

The Jose Garoffalo trainee, who captured the Fountain of Youth S. (G2) and
ran second in the Florida Derby (G1) last year, has been idle since
finishing fifth in the Florida Sunshine Millions Classic on January 17.

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