Wounded Warrior Stables and Anthony Robertson’s Uncle Sigh tested the
Churchill Downs surface for the first time on Sunday, jogging one mile under
exercise rider Benito Alvarado during the Oaks and Derby training session. The
Gotham and Withers runner-up was outfitted in the purple and gold blinkers he
began sporting after a fifth-place finish in the Wood Memorial last time out.
“(Former rider Corey) Nakatani said he thought he needed blinkers,”
said Marcelo Arenas, assistant to trainer Gary Contessa. “We thought about
blinkers before but he was running so big we figured, why make that decision?
But Nakatani said, ‘When he goes to pass outside, he’s looking at the horses
inside of him.’ So we’ll see; he’s doing really good with them.”
Uncle Sigh arrived from New York’s Aqueduct Racetrack by van Saturday night
around 8:45 p.m. (EDT) without incident.
“No problem,” Arenas said. “He’s classy. He just likes to look at
everything.”
While the Indian Charlie colt had his final serious pre-Derby drill in New
York last Friday, there is a chance he could have a quarter-mile or
three-eighths blowout through the stretch Wednesday.
Nakatani has the call on Blue Grass Stakes winner Dance With Fate. Uncle Sigh
will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., leading rider at the Aqueduct meeting that
ended Sunday, who secures his first Derby mount.
Contessa, set to saddle his first Derby starter, was to arrive in Louisville
Sunday and will be on track Monday morning.
Centennial Farms’ Wicked Strong arrived at Churchill Downs Sunday morning
after a 13-hour van ride from Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.
Trainer Jimmy Jerkens, 55, said the trip was uneventful, that the Wood
Memorial winner was given a bath and was standing comfortably in his stall in
trainer Eddie Kenneally’s barn.
“I’ve been here before. I know what its like,” he said. “It’s exciting but
nerve-wracking at the same time.”
Wicked Strong will be Jerkens’ first Derby starter and his third career
starter at Churchill Downs. He won the 2002 Humana Distaff with Celtic Melody.
In 1992, he was working for his father, Hall of Fame trainer H. Allen Jerkens,
and part of the team that brought Devil His Due to the Derby. Devil His Due
finished 12th in the race won by Lil E. Tee.
Jerkens said that Wicked Strong will gallop Monday morning during the time
reserved for Derby and Kentucky Oaks runners at 8:30 a.m. Later in the week,
Jerkens intends to let the colt have a short blowout-type work.
“Yeah, we’re planning on letting him stretch his legs down the lane on
Thursday,” Jerkens said.
Still in New York is My Meadowview Farm’s Samraat, who galloped 1 3/8 miles
under rider Rodney Taime Sunday morning at Aqueduct. He will be flown to
Louisville on Monday afternoon.
“He’s great,” trainer Rick Violette said. “He galloped this morning, a sunny
cool morning, and he was feeling great. He cooled out well and had his daily
roll in the sand. All systems stay go.”
Violette said the New York-bred son of Noble Causeway will have a light
morning on Monday and head to the airport at noon. The veteran trainer said he
was pleased that there was precious little news in the Samraat camp.
“The quieter and the lack of anything interesting is good,” he said.
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