Barbados nears return from injury

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Barbados might have been the most exciting 3-year-old not on the Triple Crown trail to race at Gulfstream Park this past winter.

Barbados won a pair of stakes – the Spectacular Bid and the Grade 3 Hutcheson – within a three-week span in January, giving trainer Michael Tomlinson at least pause to consider a run at the traditional Kentucky Derby preps decided later in the meet. But any thoughts about stretching out the son of Speightstown around two turns were put on the back burner after Tomlinson discovered that Barbados had a chip in the upper joint of his left knee, an injury that has since kept him sidelined.

Barbados now is on the verge of kicking off the second half of his 3-year-old campaign, with his comeback likely to begin here a week from Sunday in the Grade 3 Carry Back Stakes.

Barbados worked six furlongs in 1:12.60 on Wednesday at Churchill Downs. He’ll have one more breeze, after which Tomlinson will decide whether to put him on the flight from Kentucky that also is expected to bring the reigning sprint champion Work All Week to Gulfstream for the Grade 2 Smile Sprint Handicap.

“At this point, I’m about 75 percent leaning toward coming back to Gulfstream for the Carry Back,” said Tomlinson. “He’s doing well, but the distance of the race concerns me as much as anything. Seven furlongs is a tough distance for a horse coming off that kind of layoff, but I don’t have a lot of other options. We know he likes the racetrack, and timing-wise, it fits perfectly.”

Tomlinson said that despite his physical makeup, Barbados will handle distances beyond seven furlongs at some point.

“To look at the horse, he’s got sprint written all over him,” said Tomlinson. “But his pedigree indicates he should carry his speed down the racetrack. The decision to try him longer was postponed last winter because of his injury, but there may come a time when we’ll give him that opportunity.”

Tomlinson said Luis Saez, who guided Barbados to his two stakes victories here this year, will have the mount if he does come for the Carry Back.

Barbados is one of 33 sophomores nominated to the Carry Back, nine of whom are trained by Todd Pletcher, including Competitive Edge and Blofeld. On Wednesday, Pletcher said that of his group, only Two Weeks Off is under consideration for the race, with a decision on his status to come Sunday. Two Weeks Off finished fifth in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens in his last start.

Work All Week topped a list of 29 older horses nominated to the six-furlong Smile Sprint. The race could feature a rematch between Work All Week and Alsvid, who upset the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner when the pair met at Churchill Downs last month in the Grade 3 Aristides.

Private Zone, the winner of the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes on Derby Day and more recently third after contesting a hot pace in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, also is under consideration for the Smile Sprint, although trainer Jorge Navarro said Wednesday that stable manager Rene Douglas is leaning heavily toward keeping the horse up north for the $400,000 Belmont Sprint Championship on July 4.

The Smile Sprint will share top billing on the July 5 Summit of Speed program with the Grade 2 Princess Rooney, a six-furlong dash for fillies and mares that attracted 29 nominees, topped by the multiple graded stakes winners Merry Meadow and La Verdad. Entries for the Summit of Speed card, which includes four graded stakes, will be drawn July 1.