Bluegrass Cat works, Velazquez plans to ride in Belmont

Bluegrass Cat put together four straight wins before running second in the Tampa Bay Derby (Michael J. Marten/Horsephotos.com) Kentucky Derby (G1) runner-up BLUEGRASS CAT (Storm Cat) worked five furlongs in 1:00 1/5 over Belmont Park’s fast track on Sunday. Exercise rider Eddie King was in the saddle for the move, the sixth fastest of 28 at the distance. The Todd Pletcher colt, who skipped the Preakness S. (G1), is gearing up for the 1 1/2-mile Belmont S. (G1) on June 10.  Jockey John Velazquez is expected to return from injuries suffered in an April spill to ride the Grade 2-winning bay. “I feel good,” said Velazquez, who fractured a shoulder blade and cracked a rib when his mount broke down following a victory at Keeneland. “I’m just trying to get fit. I’m doing better than I thought I’d be doing at this point. I just need to get a little more strength in my back and we’ll go from there. I was jogging and doing physical therapy before I started getting on the horses again (in the mornings). It’s good to be back.” Pletcher also intends to run Peter Pan S. (G2) winner SUNRIVER (Saint Ballado) in the final classic. The full brother to two-time champion Ashado, who had been excluded from the Derby field because of insufficient graded earnings, is slated to work next Sunday. Rafael Bejarano will be aboard in the Belmont. “The defections of Barbaro (Dynaformer) and Bernardini (A.P. Indy) have certainly changed the complexion of the race,” Pletcher said, referring to the fact that the winners of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness will not contest the Belmont, the former through life-threatening injuries and the latter by choice. “Both horses are doing very well,” the trainer added, “and we’re optimistic. (Bluegrass Cat) ran big (in the Derby). He was like a lot of horses that didn’t seem to take to the Keeneland track (when a distant fourth in the Blue Grass S. [G1]) and improved at Churchill. A little improvement off of the Derby and we’ll be tough.”

In other Belmont news:

Santa Catalina S. (G2) second SACRED LIGHT (Holy Bull) worked seven furlongs
in 1:28 on a fast track at Hollywood Park on Sunday. Belmont rider Victor
Espinoza guided the gray colt through his exercise.

“He went very nice,” trainer David Hofmans said. “He was in company early and
drew away from that horse by about five or six lengths. Victor said he was very
happy.”

After a fourth-place effort in the Santa Anita Derby (G1), when he dove to
his nose at the break, Sacred Light did not have enough graded earnings to get
into the Run for the Roses. Instead, he contested a 1 1/16-mile allowance
against older horses on the Derby undercard and finished a solid runner-up.

“He’s a true distance horse,” Hofmans said. “When Rafael Bejarano got off him
after his last race, he said the horse probably would have won if the race were
another eighth of a mile.”

The horseman plans to send Sacred Light to Belmont on Tuesday and work him at
Big Sandy next Sunday.

“I remember talking to (Hall of Fame trainer Woody Stephens) about the
importance of getting a work over the track before the Belmont,” Hofmans added,
describing his only previous Belmont experience, when he saddled Touch Gold to
deny Silver Charm’s Triple Crown bid in 1997.

In addition to Sacred Light and the Pletcher pair of Bluegrass Cat and
Sunriver, the other Belmont probables are Wood Memorial (G1) winner BOB AND JOHN
(Seeking the Gold), 17th in the Kentucky Derby; Tampa Bay Derby (G3) winner
DEPUTY GLITTERS (Deputy Commander), eighth in the Derby; Preakness third
HEMINGWAY’S KEY (Notebook); Derby third STEPPENWOLFER (Aptitude); Derby fourth
JAZIL (Seeking the Gold); French import OH SO AWESOME (Awesome Again), third in
the Match the Hatch S. in his U.S. debut; and restricted stakes winner PLATINUM
COUPLE (Tale of the Cat), sixth in the Preakness. Multiple stakes-placed WILENTZ
(Grand Slam) and impressive allowance winner HIGH FINANCE (Talk Is Money) are
possible.