2012 Kentucky Derby: Starters spend Friday morning jogging, galloping

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - All 20 prospective starters in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby visited the racetrack on Friday morning for a variety of training activity that ranged from a very easy jog by Creative Cause to a couple of two mile gallops from Optimizer and Done Talking.

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The abbreviated training session, which ended at 8:00 a.m. due to the early post time on Oaks day, also included the first local appearance by Daddy Long Legs, who was finally released from quarantine on Thursday.

Likely Derby favorites Bodemeister and Union Rags both galloped, Bodemeister going a mile and one-half and Union Rags a mile and one-quarter. Bob Baffert, who trains Bodemeister, also sent his other Derby contender Liaison out to gallop a routine mile and one-half.

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Daddy Long Legs jogged and galloped under exercise rider Pat Lillis at 7:30 a.m., his first visit to the Churchill Downs oval since finishing twelfth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

“He went out there and was very professional this morning,” said Daddy Long Legs’ travelling lad T.J. Comerford.
Daddy Long Legs was noticeably hot by the time he left the track but it was of no concern to Comerford.
“It’s his first day out there and he’s fresh,” said Comerford. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”

There were rumors around the barn area during the course of the morning that Creative Cause might be scratched from the Derby, allowing also-eligible My Adonis to draw into the race, but that did not happen. Creative Cause, merely walked/jogged a mile on Friday.

Dullahan was among those who had a relatively easy morning, galloping once around the mile oval at 7:30 a.m. Trainer Dale Romans said Dullahan would merely walk on Saturday, the morning of the race.

Hansen was among the first horses on the track at 5:45 a.m, galloping a mile and one-quarter for trainer Mike Maker. Hansen shipped over to Churchill Downs from the nearby Trackside Training Center on Wednesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, My Adonis boarded a van bound for Baltimore shortly after scratch time at 9:00 a.m on Friday after officially being excluded from the Derby field. My Adonis will be heavily favored in Saturday’s Cananero II Stakes at Pimlico.