Frosted heads to Florida for Derby training

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Before he heads to Kentucky, Frosted is going to his old south Florida home.

Frosted, the winner of last Saturday’s Grade 1, $985,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, was to be flown to south Florida on Wednesday and will prepare for the May 2 Kentucky Derby at the Palm Meadows training center, where he has been based the last four months.

Kiaran McLaughlin, the trainer of Frosted, said he and Godolphin Racing U.S. representative Jimmy Bell made the decision after looking at the long-range forecasts in Kentucky and New York. Also, McLaughlin liked how Frosted trained over the Palm Meadows surface this winter.

“Everywhere I look is rain,” McLaughlin said Wednesday on a cloudy morning at Belmont Park. “The horse did so well there for the month leading up to the Wood. He trained great there. It just makes sense.”

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McLaughlin said Frosted would have one and perhaps both of his pre-Derby workouts at Palm Meadows, the same facility where Upstart, the winner of the Grade 2 Holy Bull and the runner-up in the Grade 1 Florida Derby, is currently based.

McLaughlin said the fact that Frosted’s regular exercise rider, Rob Massey, will be in Florida until the end of April is another factor.

McLaughlin also said that training at Churchill in the weeks leading up to the Derby doesn’t mean a horse is going to like it on Derby Day.

Frosted returned to the track Tuesday. He jogged Tuesday and galloped Wednesday before shipping.

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