Uncle Sigh has half-mile ‘mini-breeze’ at Churchill

Uncle Sigh breezed four furlongs on Wednesday (Rickelle Nelson/Horsephotos.com) Trainer Gary Contessa sent Uncle Sigh to the racetrack for a “mini-breeze” at Churchill Downs on Wednesday morning. “I just let him stretch his legs a little bit. He wound up going a half in :52 and 3. It was exactly what I was looking for,” Contessa said. “He did it on his own. His body language was outstanding. He just steadily picked it up every eighth, but never turned his head loose.” The New York-bred colt was not credited for an official workout by the Churchill clockers though the move shows up on the Indian Charlie colt’s record as being over the good track in :52 4/5. “To the eye it was an open gallop. To the horse it was an open gallop. To the clocker, I guess it would be right on the borderline of being a breeze. It was exactly what I was looking for,” Contessa said. “I wanted him to get a feel for the track. He worked last Friday; I wanted him to do a little something. It’s three days before the Derby. I wanted him to open up his lungs a little bit and I got exactly what I was looking for him.” Exercise rider Benito Alvarado was aboard for what turned out to be an impromptu “work.”

“It didn’t start out to be, but it definitely ended up
being one. It was a mini-breeze,” Contessa said. “I backed him up
at the quarter-pole, galloped him around. I broke him off at the
half. He went 14 seconds from the half to the three-eighths. Then he
picked it up to almost 12 and 4, so he went 26 and change for the
quarter.

“Then — I was on the walkie with the rider — I said, ‘Don’t move.’ Then he
went 13, 13 home, so he went 52-and-3.”

Uncle Sigh was equipped with blinkers, with which he’ll run for the first time in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.

Tapiture galloped an easy one mile around 6:15 a.m. (EDT) with regular
exercise rider Abel Flores up. It was the Grade 2 winner’s
first time back to the track since his memorable half-mile work
through a violent thunderstorm Monday morning.

“First day back from our little water-soaked breeze and I thought he went really well,” trainer Steve Asmussen said.
“At this stage I think there’s plenty in him. I just want to keep
him nice and relaxed and loose.”

Tapiture schooled in the paddock Tuesday afternoon during the 7TH race and seemed especially concerned
with the track’s public address system.

“He was pretty anxious,” Asmussen said. “It was the first time we were schooling him since we’ve been here this meet
and I look for him to be a little bit more relaxed today. Whether
he goes back one or two more times I don’t know.”

Tapiture is a special horse to Asmussen for reasons beyond his talent. Throughout his pedigree and history are links
to former Asmussen-trained horses, including several broken and
readied for the racetrack at the Asmussen Horse Center owned by the conditioner’s parents, Keith and Marilyn Asmussen, near the
border town of Laredo, Texas.

Tapit, sire of both Tapiture and the Asmussen-trained Kentucky Oaks favorite Untapable, was purchased by Ron Winchell as a yearling in 2002. Ron Winchell’s father,
donut king Verne Winchell, sent talented young horses to Laredo for
breaking and educating for years, dating back to the late 1980s. Ron
Winchell elected to continue the arrangement after Verne Winchell died that year and
sent his talented gray to Keith and Marilyn Asmussen before the colt
went on to win graded stakes at two and three, including the 2004
Wood Memorial under the care of Michael Dickinson.

Tapiture’s dam, Free Spin, is a Winchell homebred and also was raised in Laredo. That mare is by Olympio, a
six-time graded stakes winner in Southern California in the early 1990s,
who also was a Winchell homebred and, of course, learned to be a
racehorse in Laredo.

Tapit’s first U.S. winner was a Winchell homebred named Retap, who Asmussen
trained to a debut win at Churchill Downs as a juvenile in May 2008 and who would go on to win that year’s
Riley Allison Futurity at Sunland Park.

“It’s a fabulous story,” Asmussen said. “It’s just such a family tree that our family is so connected with, with all
of those horses going through my parents’ place in Laredo. And then
Dad sends (Tapiture) up to me in the summer and Dad was so high
on him. The horse was such a good athlete. For him to be down
to the select 20 of his foal crop, it’s very special.”

In the five years his progeny have been racing, Tapit has sired 13 Grade 1 winners. If there is any quality in common between Tapiture, Untapable and most of the other Tapits that
Asmussen has been around, it’s simply their “immense ability,” he said.

“When you have a good Tapit, they’re faster than the rest,” Asmussen said. “They just are. I think we’ve seen races
like that from several of them through the years and what we’re looking to
do is just get better at handling them and keeping them around and get
more of those types of races out of them.”

Hoppertunity jogged under the Twin Spires on Wednesday (Lauren Pomeroy/Horsephotos.com) Hoppertunity jogged Wednesday morning while stablemate Chitu galloped. It was Hoppertunity’s first day back on the track after working a half-mile in :48 during Monday’s rain storm. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said Chitu galloped about 1 1/2 miles. He had his final timed work for the 140th Kentucky Derby on Sunday morning, breezing six furlongs from the gate in 1:13 1/5. Baffert entered the colt in the Derby Trial Saturday night, but opted to scratch out of that race and work the Sunland Derby winner Sunday morning to stay on course for the Derby. “Every day he looks better and better and I really like the way he went around there,” Baffert said. “He needed a nice, stiff work, that’s why I wanted to run him in the Derby Trail, but I did get that stiff work out of him. He looks good. He’s going to run his race.” Hoppertunity, a son of Any Given Saturday, was originally named Anyway U Way, and Baffert asked his longtime owners and friends, Karl Watson, Mike Pegram and Paul Weitman, to consider a new name. He even offered a suggestion. “Sometimes I’ll tell them to change a name, unless it is named after a child,” Baffert said. “I didn’t like the name, some friends of ours are Chad and Kathleen Hopper and we thought it would be a good to name him Hoppertunity. I guess it’s a term they use it a lot in their family. They are a really fun couple and are horse racing fans.” The Hoppers are traveling from Southern California to Louisville this week to see Hoppertuity run in the Derby.

“As soon as we changed his name he woke up and started coming around,” Baffert said.

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