Derby workouts: Pletcher quartet on track; Oaks fillies in spotlight

[bc_video_id:322279:]LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The fillies took center stage during the Oaks/Derby training session at Churchill Downs on Thursday, with the only four workouts during that period turned in by horses currently pointing to next Friday’s Kentucky Oaks.

Derby activity on another cloudy, cool morning in the Louisville area consisted exclusively of routine gallops, beginning immediately after the track opened at 5:45 a.m. with Harry’s Holiday and ending three hours later when Blue Grass runner-up Medal Count completed his rounds.[:slideshow-right:]

Wednesday at Churchill Downs
51 degrees, sunny, fast

Trainer Todd Pletcher’s quartet of possible Derby contenders were all out on the track together for the first time Thursday, with Vinceremos making his first local appearance after shipping into Churchill Downs from WinStar Farm the previous day. All four made very positive appearances, topped by Risen Star winner Intense Holiday, who turned in a spirited gallop while obviously taking to both the cooler temperatures in Kentucky and the local surface extremely well.

Two of Pletcher’s Derby runners got some unexpected company during their trips around the one-mile oval. Danza wound up briefly hooking in and eventually getting passed by Fountain of Youth hero Wildcat Red while coming by the finish line for the second time. We Miss Artie and Bayern hooked up for a much longer period, galloping side by side into and through the stretch with their riders chatting to one another as the duo continued along at a relatively crisp pace.

Candy Boy, who arrived Tuesday and merely jogged a mile the wrong way Wednesday, got his first chance to stretch his legs Thursday morning, galloping 1 1/4 miles shortly before dawn with his head cocked out much of the way while taking in his new surroundings.

Social Inclusion, who will need a lot of help if he’s going to crack the Derby starting lineup, did work Thursday over his home track at Gulfstream Park, going three furlongs in 34.41 seconds and galloping out a half-mile in 47.63 while well reserved by jockey Elvis Trujillo, according to the track clockers.

[KENTUCKY DERBY WORKOUTS: Video analysis, news, and times]

Stablemates Room Service, with Shaun Bridgmohan up, and Aurelia’s Belle, Florent Geroux aboard, worked seven furlongs for trainer Wayne Catalano almost immediately after the main track opened following the break, completing the distance in 1:28.60. Room Service broke off about a length behind and outside her mate and finished in similar fashion, with both fillies under pressure to complete their final quarter in an average 25.68.

Sugar Shock was next, breezing an easy half-mile in 48.57 with jockey Calvin Borel sitting quietly on the Grade 3 Fantasy winner throughout. She galloped out in 1:02.07.

Unbridled Forever was the fourth and final Oaks worker of the session, breezing five-eighths in 1:00.80 while under just mild urging to the wire, covering her final quarter in 24.54 before galloping out five-eighths in 1:14.42.

“It was excellent,” trainer Dallas Stewart said of Unbridled Forever’s breeze. “She wasn’t blowing when she got back here and she cooled out just fine. Everything about it was good.”

Kiss the Moon got the opportunity to really stretch her legs, whether by design or not was a little hard to tell. She began really picking up steam out in the middle of the racetrack leaving the backstretch, almost as if in run-off mode, before coming down the stretch in 27.57 while remaining well off the inner rail throughout.

Oaks favorite Untapable looked very sharp and eager after having a relatively easy session the previous morning schooling at the gate.