Divisidero on fence about three-peat bid

Two-time Grade 1 winner Divisidero is on the verge of beginning his 6-year-old season, but trainer Kelly Rubley and owner Tom Keithly are still discussing whether he will attempt to keep his Kentucky Derby Day win streak at Churchill Downs intact.

Divisidero has won the last two runnings of the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic on Derby Day at Churchill. As a 3-year-old, Divisidero won the Grade 2 American Turf on the Kentucky Derby card.

Divisidero was trained by Buff Bradley during his first three seasons, but this winter he was sent to Rubley, who is now the principal trainer for Keithly’s Gunpowder Fams. Divisidero has worked seven times since March 11 at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. He was timed in 1:13 for six furlongs over the Tapeta track last Saturday.

Divisidero was racing fit before his prior Derby Day starts, but this year would not have the benefit of a prep race.

“He came into Fair Hill in January,” Rubley said. “He had been swimming but basically was coming out of the field.

“There have been no hiccups, and he’s taken all the steps forward that we’ve asked in his training. The question is, since it took a while to get him back to racing condition, do we start him off in the Kentucky race, or do we plan out a yearlong campaign for him?”

Now named the Old Forester Turf Classic, the $500,000 race has been run annually since 1987. Besides Divisidero, the only two-time winners are Wise Dan, who turned the trick in 2013 and 2014 for trainer Charlie LoPresti, and Einstein, who took back-to-back runnings in 2008 and 2009 for Helen Pitts.

Rubley began training in 2014 and has about 50 horses at Fair Hill. In addition to Keithly, she trains for The Elkstone Group and West Point Thoroughbreds.

“I certainly have big shoes to fill with this horse, but I appreciate the opportunity,” Rubley said. “He’s carrying good weight, and he looks wonderful.”

On Tuesday at Parx Racing, Rubley and Keithly pulled off a $35.20 upset with Papa Zulu in a second-level optional-claiming race.