All three Triple Crown race winners work for stakes at Spa

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The winners of all three of this year’s Triple Crown races put in workouts about an hour apart Saturday morning at Saratoga as they prepare for the second half of the season and a bid for a divisional championship.

For Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming and Preakness winner Cloud Computing, it was their final workouts before a meeting next Saturday in the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes here. For Belmont Stakes winner Tapwrit, it was his first workout since his classic victory and his first on the road to the Travers, which will be his next start on Aug. 26.

Always Dreaming was reunited with jockey John Velazquez for the first time since they finished eighth behind Cloud Computing in the Preakness Stakes. Always Dreaming, working by himself over the Oklahoma training track at 9:30 a.m., went five furlongs in 1:01.57, going his first quarter in 25.80 seconds and his last quarter in 24.12. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:14.79 and seven furlongs in 1:28.04.

“It’s what we were wanting to do with him,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “We felt like he needed a good, solid breeze with a solid gallop-out, and I’m happy with the way he did it.”

Velazquez said Always Dreaming was “going pretty strong to the pole,” and he took a hold of him to make sure he didn’t go too fast early.

“I didn’t want to overdo it,” Velazquez said. “I was a little bit nervous. I had to take a hold of him, but that was for a reason. But he did everything good, and I think he’s back to himself.”

Pletcher had initially scheduled Always Dreaming’s work for the main track, but he was concerned about how slow the main track was Friday. Also, a horse of Chad Brown’s, the 3-year-old maiden Wanztbwicked, broke down at the end of a workout over the main track early Saturday morning. While that horse and rider were being attended to, Pletcher moved his second set of workers to the Oklahoma training track and thought that track was tighter than the main track.

“I wanted to get an accurate line where I was, especially with Always Dreaming, from a fitness standpoint, and I wanted to do it on a track I felt I knew how it was playing,” Pletcher said. “We’re where we want to be for the Jim Dandy. It’s a delicate balance making sure you’re fit enough to run in a race like that while hopefully not overdoing it and building on that for future races down the road.”

One of the races down the road is the Travers. That’s where Tapwrit will make his next start. On Saturday, Tapwrit went four furlongs in 48.97 seconds, working in company with American Patriot. That pair went the first quarter in 24.95 seconds and the last quarter in 24.02. Tapwrit, with Jose Ortiz up, galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.31 and six furlongs in 1:15.72.

“I thought for his first work since the Belmont, he was very good,” Pletcher said. “I was surprised how easily he worked and how strongly he galloped out. He’s really maintained his fitness level, which makes me feel good about the Travers.”

At 8:45 a.m. over the main track, Brown said he timed Cloud Computing five furlongs in 1:01, though the horse was credited with a half-mile move in 49.09. It was his first work at Saratoga, as he had done all his previous training this year at Belmont Park.

“I saw a horse moving very well. I thought he worked great,” Brown said. “[Galloping out] he had to go inside another horse, but I thought he galloped out with good energy.”

As of Saturday, the only other horse considered definite for the Jim Dandy is Pavel, a Doug O’Neill-trained colt who has won his only start, a six-furlong race at Santa Anita on July 1.

• Patch, the third-place finisher in the Belmont Stakes, worked a half-mile in 48.67 seconds in company with Suburban winner Keen Ice. The pair went in virtually equal quarters of 24.33 seconds and 24.34.

Afterward, Pletcher said Patch is “a candidate” for the $750,000 West Virginia Derby on Aug. 5.

Keen Ice, meanwhile, is pointing to the Grade 1 Whitney on the same day. Keen Ice was very strong in the gallop-out, going five furlongs in 1:01.96 and six furlongs in 1:14.81.

“I thought Keen Ice was really good this morning,” Pletcher said. “It seems like he’s come out of the Suburban really well. I thought he was training really well going into the Suburban. I think that race gave him some confidence. You can tell around the barn he was full of himself. I thought his breeze this morning was exceptional.”

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