Divisidero points to Secretariat at Arlington

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Buff Bradley was as disappointed in the results of the Belmont Derby last weekend as anyone who bet on Divisidero at 5-2.

“I really wish we’d been up closer because the pace was so slow, but that’s hindsight,” said Bradley. “The good news is he came out of the race really well, and we’ve got a lot of racing left in the year.”

Bradley said Divisidero, owned by Gunpowder Farms LLC, likely will run next in the Grade 1 Secretariat on the Arlington Million undercard Aug. 15 at Arlington Park. A winner in three of his four prior starts, the 3-year-old Kitten’s Joy colt was the second wagering choice when finishing seventh of nine in the $1.25 million Belmont Derby in New York.

“He came home pretty good, but so did everybody else,” said Bradley.

Although many of the top Churchill Downs outfits soon will be sending strings to Saratoga, Bradley will remain based through the summer at Churchill and Indiana Grand while running the bulk of his 30-plus-horse stable at Ellis Park in western Kentucky. Bradley has won or tied for leading-trainer honors at Ellis in four of the past six years, having won solo titles in 2009 and 2011 before tying in 2012 and 2014.

“We used to take the whole stable down to Ellis, but we haven’t done that in about five years,” he said. “You don’t really try to win a training title anywhere. You spot your horses where they need to be, and if it happens, it’s nice.”

Meanwhile, Bradley said he is in close touch with his father, Fred, with whom he co-owned standouts Brass Hat and Groupie Doll. Fred Bradley, 84, lives in the dementia unit of the Thomson-Hood Veterans Center in Wilmore, Ky., some 30 miles south of Lexington, Ky.

“We still share a lot of photos and videos with him,” said Bradley. “It’s kind of sad for me, but I’ll tell you we had a really good run together. We got to share a lot of great memories and do a lot of traveling.”

** Rafael Hernandez, the regular rider of Divisidero, will be headed to the Saratoga meet that begins July 24 after earning the biggest victory of his career Sunday aboard Shaman Ghost in the Queen’s Plate at Woodbine.

At this time last year, Hernandez was the top jockey at Fairmount Park, but with Cliff Collier as agent and the support of trainer Wesley Ward, Hernandez has risen to prominence while competing primarily in Florida and Kentucky.

Hernandez, a 28-year-old native of Puerto Rico, rode a combined 17 winners this spring at Keeneland and Churchill. He joins Julien Leparoux, Corey Lanerie, and Shaun Bridgmohan as Churchill regulars who will ride throughout the Saratoga meet.

** Noble Bird will have his second breeze since his Stephen Foster Handicap victory when working this weekend at Churchill Downs before being shipped to Saratoga, said Norman Casse, assistant and son of trainer Mark Casse. The younger Casse will be in charge of a sizable string at Saratoga.

“Our first load goes up this weekend,” he said. “Noble Bird will go with the next load.”

Noble Bird breezed a half-mile in 49.40 seconds last Saturday in his first serious move since he won the Grade 1 Foster on June 13 by a neck over Lea. Both horses are being pointed to the Whitney on Aug. 8.

** If opening weekend is any indication, Jon Court has enough business to be the leading rider at Ellis for the first time in quite a while. Court won four races from 21 mounts on the first three of 31 programs to take the early lead in the jockey race. Court, 54, led the Ellis standings for five straight years from 1998 to 2002.

** Declan Cannon got his first victory in North America when riding Supersonic to a 5 3/4-length score for trainer Eddie Kenneally in the last race Sunday at Ellis. Cannon, a 27-year-old native of Ireland, has been working mainly as an exercise rider for Kenneally. His first two mounts on this continent, neither a winner, came at the recent Churchill meet. Cannon previously rode winners in Qatar and the United Kingdom.

“I’m going home to Ireland for the rest of the summer, but I’m moving to the U.S. in the fall,” said Cannon.

** Absent a stakes race, the highlight at Ellis this weekend will be wiener-dog racing, always popular with the locals. There will be longer gaps than normal between races Saturday and Sunday because of these races. The next Ellis stakes is the $50,000 Don Bernhardt on July 18.