Flexibility beats the weather in Withers work

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – With a winter storm forecast for the weekend in this area, horsemen were altering their training plans, with many moving up scheduled Saturday workouts by a day or two. On Thursday, the most notable worker was Flexibility, the Grade 3 Jerome Stakes winner, who put in a half-mile move in 48.14 seconds over the Belmont Park training track. Flexibility is being pointed for the Grade 3 Withers Stakes here on Jan. 30.

Working outside of stablemate Building Permit, Flexibility went his first quarter in 23.97 seconds and his second quarter in 24.17 while finishing half a head behind his partner. Flexibility galloped out five furlongs in 1:01.90.

The work was very similar to Flexibility’s move Jan. 15, when he went a half-mile in the same 48.14 seconds, with a gallop-out of 1:01.93 for five furlongs.

“He breezed well again,” said Cherie DeVaux, the New York-based assistant to trainer Chad Brown. “He finished up his breeze well; he’s doing everything correctly. He’s getting a lot more mature as we progress.”

DeVaux moved the workout up from Saturday to Thursday in part because she thought “the track was in really good shape,” and maintenance crews were able to water the track between renovation breaks.

Having raced three times from Nov. 4 through the Jerome, Flexibility hasn’t had to do much to maintain his fitness. He’ll end up having two breezes between the Jerome and Withers and likely won’t be affected if he is forced to miss a day or two of training this weekend should the track not be suitable for training.

As of Thursday, with entries still six days away, New York Racing Association officials expected a six-horse field for the Withers, run at 1 1/16 miles. Also likely to run are Sunny Ridge, the Delta Jackpot runner-up; Vorticity, second behind Flexibility in the Jerome; King Kranz, the winner of the Lost in the Fog Stakes; Donegal Moon, who stumbled and lost his rider at the start of the Jerome; and Adventist, an 11 1/4-length debut winner.

On Thursday, Vorticity shipped from the training center at Fair Hill to Laurel Park to get a work in over that track’s dirt surface. Vorticity went a half-mile in 50.40 seconds.

“I had a synthetic work in him last week,” said trainer James Lawrence on Thursday. “I thought I’d like to get a nice dirt work in him today. He went nice and easy. I’m really pleased with how he’s doing.”

Sunny Ridge, who finished second in the Grade 1 Champagne, will have his fifth different rider in his sixth start. Manny Franco will have the mount, replacing Irad Ortiz Jr., who rides Flexibility.