Cocked and Loaded sharpens for Blue Grass Stakes

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Grade 3 stakes winner Cocked and Loaded, gearing up for his first start of the year in the Blue Grass Stakes, breezed five furlongs in 59.80 seconds at Tampa Bay Downs on Thursday, the fastest of 15 works at the distance. It was the second straight bullet workout for the 3-year-old Cocked and Loaded, following a half-mile in 47.60 on March 9.

Trainer Larry Rivelli said Cocked and Loaded worked “like a monster.”

“He worked great,” he said. “He did everything we wanted him to do – sat behind another horse and tracked him. He’s probably a little closer than we think. He’s one of those horses you can never really get to the bottom of. He definitely got a lot out of the work.”

Cocked and Loaded, owned by Richard Ravin and Patricia’s Hope LLC, hasn’t raced since finishing fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland on Oct. 31. He won two stakes last year, taking the Grade 3 Iroquois by two lengths at Churchill Downs in September and the $246,000 Tremont Stakes by a half-length at Belmont Park in June. Cocked and Loaded has won 3 of 6 starts for $310,840.

Rivelli said Irad Ortiz Jr., who rode Cocked and Loaded in the BC Juvenile, will have the mount for the Grade 1 Blue Grass, a 1 1/8-mile race at Keeneland on April 9.