The list of three-year-olds probable for Saturday’s $500,000 Lane’s End S.
(G2) at Turfway Park has taken shape, according to Turfway Stakes Coordinator
Tia Borgemenke. Entries will be drawn Wednesday during the annual Call to the
Post Luncheon.
Appearing likely for the Kentucky Derby (G1) prep going 1 1/8 miles are A. P.
CARDINAL (A.P. Indy), BITTEL ROAD (Stormy Atlantic), DYNAMITE BOB (Malabar
Gold), FLYING PRIVATE (Fusaichi Pegasus), HOLD ME BACK (Giant’s Causeway), JACK
SPRATT (Candy Ride [Arg]), LOCH DUBH (Friends Lake), ORTHODOX (Pulpit), PARADE
CLOWN (Distorted Humor) and WEST SIDE BERNIE (Bernstein). PROCEED BEE
(Bernstein), who won the February 28 John Battaglia Memorial over Turfway’s
Polytrack, is on the fence between the Lane’s End and the undercard Rushaway S.,
run at 1 1/16 miles.
West Side Bernie won the Kentucky Cup Juvenile (G3) at Turfway Park in
September and comes into the Lane’s End off a third-place finish in the January
31 Holy Bull S. (G3) at Gulfstream Park.
“(In the Holy Bull), two longshots got out there and kept on running,”
trainer Kelly Breen said. “Bernie came from next to last, so he ran his race,
but nobody that day came from worse than third to win, so if you take that into
consideration, he ran a pretty powerful race that day.”
If all goes according to plan, West Side Bernie will go straight from the
Lane’s End to the Kentucky Derby.
“I think running well at Delta Downs (runner-up finish in the $750,000 Delta
Jackpot S. [G3]) gave him enough earnings that I could take my time with him,”
Breen explained. “His next race for me would be the Kentucky Derby. I would not
run him again. I would save him, and I think that would help him. I’m looking
for him to run a big race on Saturday. He’s matured a lot. He’s more focused
now. He’s running straight.”
West Side Bernie vanned up from Florida on Friday, arrived at Turfway
Saturday morning, and jogged over the track on Sunday.
“We wanted to make sure he got over the trip and get his body moving,” Breen
explained. “He looks good, eating well — all the things you want them to do
coming out of a trip.”
With Breen aboard, West Side Bernie galloped a little over a mile Monday
morning, a routine he will continue through the week. He worked four furlongs in
:48 4/5 last Thursday at Palm Meadows, fourth fastest of 21 at the distance, and
will not breeze again before the race.
Edgar Prado, who won the Lane’s End last year with Adriano (A.P. Indy), has
the mount on West Side Bernie.
While the Lane’s End will serve as a key test for several entrants, Bittel
Road comes to Turfway having already tangled with two of the best horses on the
West Coast. The dark bay exits solid fourth-place finishes in the CashCall
Futurity (G1) last December and the Robert B. Lewis S. (G2) at Santa Anita on
February 7. In the Lewis, Bittel Road was beaten just two lengths by Pioneerof
the Nile (Empire Maker), who came back to capture the San Felipe S. (G2) on
Saturday. Third in the Lewis was I Want Revenge (Stephen Got Even), who followed
with a blowout 8 1/2-length win in Aqueduct’s Gotham S. (G3) on March 7.
“The form of his races has been holding up well,” trainer Todd Pletcher said.
“He’s been racing against Pioneerof the Nile and I Want Revenge, but the key now
will be to see how he transfers his races at Hollywood and Santa Anita to what
is a little different synthetic surface at Turfway Park.”
A good race in the Lane’s End could keep Bittel Road firmly on the Kentucky
Derby trail. Pletcher has named Garrett Gomez, winner of the 2008 Eclipse Award
as outstanding jockey, to ride on Saturday.
“We’re going to see how this race goes, and then we can decide whether to
train him up to the Kentucky Derby or run once more in the Lexington S. ([G2] at
Keeneland),” Pletcher said. “I think (Bittel Road) is versatile. He can adapt to
any pace scenario. We’ll see how the race looks on paper, then put Garrett up
and let him make the decisions out there.”
Bittel Road will ship from California to Kentucky on Wednesday.
After setting the early pace but tiring to fifth in the Sam F. Davis S. (G3)
at Tampa Bay Downs on February 14, A. P. Cardinal will try an all-weather
surface for the first time in the Lane’s End.
“It’s an unknown for sure,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin admitted. “We think he
has a high knee action and might like the Polytrack, so we’re going to give it a
try. He didn’t like Tampa — he was spinning his wheels there. The timing of the
Lane’s End is just right, so we’re going to go there.”
A. P. Cardinal will ship to Turfway from his Florida base on Thursday.
FITZ JUST RIGHT (Seattle Fitz [Arg]), who will compete in the $150,000
Bourbonette Oaks (G3) on the Lane’s End undercard, will be on the same flight
to Kentucky as A. P. Cardinal. Winner of the O.B.S. Filly Championship at Ocala
on February 16, Fitz Just Right was backed at 22-1 in the recently concluded
Kentucky Oaks Future Wager.
The favorite in the Oaks advance wagering was Justwhistledixie (Dixie Union)
who, like Fitz Just Right, is trained by McLaughlin and owned by Terry Finley’s
West Point Thoroughbreds. A good showing in the Bourbonette could see both
fillies going in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) on May 1.
“It’s possible, if Fitz Just Right were to win the Bourbonette and if Terry
Finley wants to run two in the Oaks,” McLaughlin said. “She’s three-for-four
lifetime and just won over a synthetic surface at OBS, so now we want to try and
get her some graded earnings.”
A total of eight sophomore fillies are considered probable for the
Bourbonette at this stage. Undefeated INSTRUMENTALIST (Bernstein) will be making
her stakes debut in the mile test, while WALLOON (Alphabet Soup) will be looking
to build on her 3 1/4-length victory in the Valdale S. last out.
The $100,000 Rushaway will be held earlier on the card, and trainer Jimmy
Baker removed Grade 3-placed Gresham (Seeking the Gold) from consideration for
the 1 1/16-mile event on Tuesday.
The seven probables for the Rushaway are NO INFLATION (Repriced), a recent 4
1/4-length allowance scorer; John Battaglia Memorial third-placer TOCCET ROCKET
(Toccet); last-out maiden winner ZIEGFELD (Elusive Quality); DUELING ALEX
(Medaglia d’Oro); FITZALSEW (Seattle Fitz [Arg]); NINTH CLIENT (Malibu Moon);
and SUNDAY’S BABY GRAND (Sunday Break [Jpn]).