Gormley adds blinkers for work ahead of possible Belmont Stakes start
ARCADIA, Calif. – Gormley, the Santa Anita Derby winner who most recently was ninth in the Kentucky Derby, worked seven furlongs in 1:26.20 on Saturday at Santa Anita in preparation for a potential start in the Belmont Stakes in one week, but trainer John Shirreffs said he still needed to mull things over for the next couple of days before deciding whether to run.
Shirreffs said he would not make a decision regarding the Belmont until speaking with owner Jerry Moss. But both Shirreffs and jockey Victor Espinoza, who was aboard for the work, said they were happy with the drill, in which Gormley went alone while wearing blinkers for the first time.
"I was very happy," Shirreffs said. "He started off at a good pace – 12 and 1, 12 and 2 – and kept that pace up. He jumps into his work. You want to see how they maintain that, have a glide, and I thought he hit a nice glide. Going seven-eighths, alone, it's a question if they can keep it up. They can start to fall apart. I thought he finished fairly well for a horse by himself."
Gormley came onto the track after waiting out the rush that comes immediately after a renovation break. He walked with a pony from the quarter pole clockwise to the finish line, then turned around and went into his drill. Espinoza urged him along just a bit with an aggressive hand ride nearing the finish. After the work, Espinoza let Gormley gallop out down the backstretch and brought him around the right way to the furlong pole to reunite with the pony.
Espinoza said Gormley "was great."
"Most of the time, he works in company, and this was his first time in blinkers. He went steady all the way," Espinoza said. "He finished great, galloped out nice."
Shirreffs had planned to work Gormley in company, but he said Gormley's potential workmate was cast in the stall on Saturday morning and "scraped up a hind leg." Because Gormley was working alone, and because Shirreffs has thought about blinkers anyway, Shirreffs put some small French-cup blinkers on Gormley for the drill.
"I don’t know, we'll see," Shirreffs said when asked if Gormley would wear blinkers if he were to run in the Belmont. "He was working by himself, and we wanted to keep him focused. All along, we've thought he might want blinkers.
"But the distance of the race," Shirreffs said, referring to the Belmont's 1 1/2 miles, "makes that not a quick decision. For the workout, it was an easy decision since he wasn't going to have any company."
If Gormley travels, he would leave California very early Wednesday morning for an arrival in New York later that day. Others scheduled to be on that plane include Songbird for the Ogden Phipps Stakes, Mor Spirit for the Met Mile, and Abel Tasman for the Acorn.
Espinoza is going to New York regardless because he rides Solid Wager in the Met Mile for trainer Peter Miller.
