Bravazo steps it up in Travers drill

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas went on record last week as saying Bravazo went too slow in a half-mile work that was timed in 51.60 seconds.

Monday, Lukas made sure that wouldn’t happen again as he put two horses in front of Bravazo for a five-furlong workout that NYRA clockers timed in 1:00.90 over the Oklahoma training track. Bravazo is preparing for a start in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers on Aug. 25.

Bravazo, the Preakness and Haskell runner-up, started about three lengths behind the pair of Royal Edition and an unnamed 2-year-old. He joined up three wide at the quarter pole and then finished five in front as the riders of the other two horses took their mounts in hand.

“I wanted to make sure he got something out of it and got a good blow,” Lukas said. “The track was awful dry today – they expected rain I think – but he worked well over it. I put him in with a couple of others and let him run by them. I’m trying to teach him to run by them no matter who they are.”

Bravazo won the Grade 2 Risen Star at Fair Grounds in February, but is winless in six races since. He and Justify were the only two horses to have run in all three Triple Crown races. While Justify, the Triple Crown winner, is retired, Bravazo came back to run second to Good Magic in the Haskell.

Good Magic figures to be the favorite in the Travers.

The Travers picked up another starter when trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday that Meistermind, who won a 1 1/4-mile maiden race at Churchill Downs on June 30, would run. Meistermind, a half-brother to 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and 2012 Pacific Classic winner Dullahan, is owned by WinStar Farm, China Horse Club, and SF Racing, similar connections as Justify. On Sunday, he worked in company with Jim Dandy winner Tenfold, the pair going five furlongs in 1:01.25 over the Oklahoma training track.

Asmussen said Manny Franco would ride Meistermind.