Battle of Midway drills seven furlongs for Haskell

DEL MAR, Calif. – Fresh off winning three races on opening day, jockey Flavien Prat was busy Thursday morning at Del Mar working several of his top stakes horses, most notably Battle of Midway.

Battle of Midway went seven furlongs in 1:26.40 in preparation for the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth on July 30. Battle of Midway, trained by Jerry Hollendorfer, is scheduled for one more work here early next week before traveling to New Jersey.

Prat also worked the female turf runner Avenge, who drilled on the main track, going six furlongs in 1:12.60. He also was on the 3-year-old filly Paradise Woods, who went five furlongs in 1:00.60.

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Both Avenge and Paradise Woods are trained by Richard Mandella. Avenge is scheduled to run in the Grade 2, $200,000 Yellow Ribbon Handicap on Aug. 5, while Paradise Woods is awaiting the Grade 3, $100,000 Torrey Pines Stakes on Aug. 27.

On the turf course, Collected worked for a potential start in the Grade 2, $200,000 Del Mar Mile on Aug. 19. He went five furlongs under jockey Mike Smith in 1:04.20 for trainer Bob Baffert.

Collected’s work was supposed to be in company with the filly Pretty N Cool, but she was favoring her left hind leg and was pulled up shortly after the work began by jockey Martin Garcia. Pretty N Cool was loaded onto the horse ambulance and taken for further observation to Baffert’s barn, where X-rays revealed no fracture, according to Baffert, who said it appears that Pretty N Cool had a stifle lock up on her.

Two horses who could face Collected in the Del Mar Mile also worked on the turf, with Bal a Bali going six furlongs in 1:15.20 under Smith and Om going five furlongs in 1:04.80 under Gary Stevens.

All turf works were around orange cones known as “dogs.”