Gulfstream Park: Hopeful winner Currency Swap has first breeze since being injured

Currency Swap, winner of the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes, worked three furlongs in 36.60 seconds Saturday at Gulfstream, his first breeze since being sidelined with an ankle chip last fall that required surgery.

Under exercise rider and assistant trainer Luis Canrera, Currency Swap went his first eighth in 12.32 seconds, his final quarter in 24.28 seconds and he galloped out four furlongs in 50.33.

“He wanted to do more,” Pompay said. “My assistant was on him and said after the wire galloping out he wanted to keep on going. It takes him a while to get warmed up, he’s got a lot of muscle mass to him and he’s a big, heavy horse. It takes a while to get rolling.”

Pompay called the work “a good first step” toward his 3-year-old return. However, Pompay said she wants to train the horse a little while longer before attempting to map out a schedule. She would love to make the Florida Derby on March 31, but is under no pressure to do so.

“There are so many possibilities, the good thing about the owners is they’ll let me go along and if we wind up having to ship somewhere to get a race into him that doesn’t coincide with the schedule here they’re fine with that,” Pompay said.