Trainer Dallas Stewart sounded an upbeat note Thursday morning after Golden
Soul worked five furlongs in 1:01 2/5, breezing, over Saratoga’s fast Oklahoma
training track in preparation for the Grade 1, $1 million Travers Stakes on
August 24.
“He worked this morning, and he worked great,” Stewart said. “Did it easy,
galloped out really good, was on his toes coming home. So, he seems pretty much
ready. I’m happy with the way he cooled out and the way he’s coming up to the
race.”
The Charles Fipke homebred son of Perfect Soul rallied from 15th place to be
second in the Kentucky Derby, and subsequently finished ninth in the Belmont
Stakes and then last of seven in the Haskell Invitational.
Stewart said that when Golden Soul’s blood work came back good, his appetite
was strong and he showed good energy on the racetrack in the mornings after the
Haskell, he sent the horse back into training.
“We’re paying attention more when they come out of a bad race to see if
anything has come apart that you don’t feel good about,” Stewart said. “But, at
this point, everybody on my staff, my vet, we all feel good about the way he’s
trained for the last three weeks, especially the last week. He looks like he’s
come up a level in his training, his energy.
“I know he’s good enough to win it if we have him ready,” Stewart said. “You
can’t go in there half trained up. You’ve got to cowboy up and train this son of
a gun, and the horse has to prove it to you. We have to be ready and make sure
the horse is prepared in a way he’s supposed to be prepared, and he’s tested
every morning with hard training. If he’s not capable, we need to do something
else.
“If he goes out there and goes (five furlongs) in 1:03, you’re going to
wonder,” he added. “If he works in a minute and he doesn’t eat up for three or
four days, and he’s not on the bit galloping, and he’s not looking right, you’ve
got some problems. But he’s passed all of the good tests we’ve laid out for
him.”
Also working for the Travers was promoted Curlin stakes winner Romansh, who
covered five furlongs in 1:01 3/5 on the fast main track for trainer Tom
Albertrani.
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