Derby Clocker: Routine morning for Derby hopefuls

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For the first time in four days, the main track was listed as fast at Churchill Downs, with the most noteworthy name on Thursday’s rather extensive work tab not that of a potential Kentucky Derby winner, but that of a past one.

Always Dreaming, last year’s winner, worked a half-mile Thursday in preparation for a return to the scene of his finest hour next Friday in the Alysheba Stakes.

For the vast majority of this year’s Derby hopefuls training on the grounds, Thursday morning meant another round of routine gallops, only this time without having the ground squishing under their feet. For recent arrivals like the Todd Pletcher foursome of Audible, Magnum Moon, Noble Indy, and Vino Rosso, along with Hofburg and Good Magic, it provided them their first opportunity to train locally on dry land.

As was the case Wednesday, both Magnum Moon and Hofburg were pretty rambunctious from the outset. Hofburg spent a brief time visiting the paddock before returning to the track and pulling his rider around at a strong clip. Flameaway, likewise, was eager and willing to train once again this morning, dropping to the rail and galloping at a two-minute clip (15-second eighth-mile splits) down the stretch and back around the clubhouse turn.

My Miss Lilly, winner of the Grade 2 Gazelle at Aqueduct in her last start, was the only horse to work during the designated Oaks-Derby training session from 7:30-7:45 a.m. The lightly raced but rapidly improving filly was put in company with Spikes Shirl, a recent entry-level allowance winner from the barn of trainer Dallas Stewart, for her easy half-mile breeze. My Miss Lilly held a slight advantage leaving the pole outside her company, edged a length clear after a 24.31-second opening quarter-mile split, was kept well out in the track coming off the bend, then asserted her superiority approaching the wire, pulling several lengths in front without need of encouragement. She completed the distance in 48.74. She then galloped out willingly in 1:02.65 after an efficient maintenance run for a filly who has trained well here, rain or shine, all week long.

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Another Oaks filly who made a favorable impression was Gulfstream Oaks winner Coach Rocks as she continues to move forward since her latest victory and very sharp-looking breeze here last weekend.

The lone Derby work of the morning took place approximately 1,000 miles due south, at the Palm Meadows training center in Boynton Beach, Fla., where Enticed drilled in company with his older stablemate Into the Breach, a maiden who has finished second in six of his eight starts.

Watching the work on video, it appeared Enticed got a bit rank from the start and sped along at a pretty good early clip along with his partner. Enticed turned for home about a half-length behind before sticking his neck in front at the wire while fully extended through the final furlong, with both easing up fairly quickly on the gallop-out. The official final time was 1:00.20 for a horse who has typically saved his best for the afternoons.

Also at Palm Meadows, the blinker experiment continued for Oaks contender Take Charge Paula, who breezed five furlongs as a team with Ajwibah. Take Charge Paula, second in the Gulfstream Oaks behind Coach Rocks, was nudged along outside her mate to maintain a short advantage down the lane after five furlongs officially clocked in 1:01.20 while also easing up on the gallop-out.

Always Dreaming was the second horse to work over a freshly manicured track following the 9 a.m. break, and true to his nature, at least here at Churchill Downs, was on the muscle pretty much from the moment he entered the racetrack. Exercise rider Nick Bush, who did such a splendid job handling the high-strung colt in the final 10 days leading up to last year’s Derby, was aboard Always Dreaming, who broke off at the half-mile pole and completed the distance to the wire in 49.14, shading 24 seconds for his final quarter completely on his own. He galloped out with terrific energy, five furlongs in 1:02.21, three-quarters in 1:15, and then up seven-eighths in 1:28.92. The work was a furlong shorter but strikingly reminiscent of the final, eye-catching breeze and gallop-out eight days in advance of Always Dreaming’s winning performance in the 2017 Derby.