East Avenue's gate work better than it looks on paper
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East Avenue, with a Saturday workout at Fair Grounds, continued preparation toward his 3-year-old debut in the Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 15.
From the look of this workout, East Avenue will be . . . prepared.
While the Saturday work shows up as a half-mile from the starting gate in 48.80 seconds, it was much more than that. Breezing under jockey Edgar Morales, East Avenue broke alertly, cruised through the homestretch and under the finish line, and after those two furlongs really started rolling. Powering out of the clubhouse turn and onto the backstretch, East Avenue didn’t significantly slow until he’d passed the half-mile marker approaching the far turn.
Trainer Brendan Walsh said on his watch he timed East Avenue in 1:00.60 for five furlongs, out six furlongs in 1:13.20, his last quarter-mile in 24.20.
“I thought it was fantastic. He’s doing good,” Walsh said Sunday.
East Avenue, as he did as a 2-year-old, looks the part of a Classic horse, big, sculpted, and imposing with a long stride. The colt, by Medaglia d’Oro, now has logged five Fair Grounds breezes since returning to the work tab Jan. 3. Saturday’s drill was his first from the gate this year.
After easy wins in an Ellis Park maiden sprint and in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity around two turns at Keeneland, East Avenue lost the BC Juvenile with a severe stumble just after the start. He’d gotten away cleanly enough his first two races and did so again Saturday.
“We wanted to put an emphasis on not leaving too fast, nice and smooth, and he got into a nice rhythm from there,” said Walsh, who trains East Avenue for the colt’s breeder, Godolphin. “I think he’s on track. He’s had a couple nice blows now. He’ll improve from having a run, but we’ll have him about as ready as he can be.”
Tyler Gaffalione, aboard for all three 2024 races, has the mount in the Risen Star.
Saturday afternoon, Walsh saddled a colt named San Siro for his 4-year-old debut in a second-level, dirt-route allowance race, and San Siro came out of it looking like a stakes horse. San Siro, by Classic Empire, required all his 3-year-old season to develop and mature, and after two solid tries at the second allowance level last fall, he won Saturday by 4 1/4 lengths, his career-best Beyer Speed Figure jumping from 89 to 97.
“We always liked him, but he’s a big horse and it’s taken a while for the whole thing to come together,” Walsh said.
San Siro cleared his first allowance condition going 1 1/4 miles, and Walsh said, “at one stage I thought we wouldn’t find races long enough for him. He’s sharpened up a lot.”
◗ Jonathan’s Way, seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and more recently second in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes on Nov. 30, worked five furlongs Feb. 1 in a bullet 1:00.20 and remains on course to start in the Risen Star. According to Fair Grounds publicity, Jose Ortiz worked the colt Saturday and picks up the mount for the Risen Star.
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