First Captain will add blinkers, be ridden by Rosario in Pennsylvania Derby
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – First Captain will wear blinkers for the first time and have jockey Joel Rosario aboard when he makes his next start, in the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx on Sept. 25, trainer Shug McGaughey said Friday.
First Captain, winner of the Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes and the third-place finisher in the Curlin Stakes on July 31, worked in those blinkers and under Rosario on Friday morning, going a half-mile in 46.74 seconds over the Saratoga main track, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch.
First Captain worked on the inside of Bears Watching, a maiden winner at Gulfstream Park in January who has not raced since.
“He was a little keen with the blinkers and the jockey first time, but that’s always how they are with the jocks,” McGaughey said. “But it was a good, solid work. He galloped out good and we’ll take it from there.”
McGaughey said he was disappointed with First Captain’s positioning early on in the Curlin, which is why he opted to try training him in blinkers.
“I thought in the Curlin he would be laying right behind the first pack and he was five lengths behind them,” McGaughey said. “I put them on and galloped him in them and I liked it.”
Jose Ortiz rode First Captain in his first four starts, but has committed to Speaker’s Corner, trained by Bill Mott, in the Pennsylvania Derby. Rosario is expected to be at Parx to ride Army Wife in the Grade 1 Cotillion for trainer Mike Maker.
Speaker’s Corner, who came off a long layoff to win a first-level allowance race by 5 1/4 lengths on Aug. 14 under Ortiz, worked a half-mile in 50.00 seconds over the Oklahoma training track.
Weyburn, the Grade 3 Gotham winner who finished fourth in the Jim Dandy, worked five furlongs in 1:01.42 over the Oklahoma training track. He got his last quarter in 23.39 seconds and galloped out six furlongs in 1:14.03.
He did not wear blinkers in the work and trainer Jimmy Jerkens is toying with the idea of removing them for the Pennsylvania Derby. Weyburn did not wear blinkers in his first start but has worn them in his subsequent six races.