Hot Rod Charlie, Rombauer on work tab

Hot Rod Charlie, third in the Kentucky Derby on May 1 and second in the Belmont Stakes on June 5, is on schedule for the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational on July 17 at Monmouth Park, while plans have yet to be finalized for Rombauer, winner of the Preakness Stakes on May 15.

Both colts worked Friday at Santa Anita. Hot Rod Charlie worked six furlongs in 1:11.60, while Rombauer worked five furlongs in 1:01.

Hot Rod Charlie worked in company with Foothill, a stablemate who served as a pacesetter until midstretch. Hot Rod Charlie was not fitted with blinkers for the second consecutive workout and is unlikely to start with the equipment. Jockey Flavien Prat was aboard for the workout.

“I was happy with the way he looked,” trainer Doug O’Neill said. “He’s a happy horse. We’ve taken the blinkers off, and he’s in a good frame of mind.”

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The $1 million Haskell Invitational is run at 1 1/8 miles and is expected to include Mandaloun, runner-up in the Kentucky Derby on May 1.

“For $1 million, it will be a tough race,” O’Neill said.

Hot Rod Charlie is scheduled to have one more workout at Santa Anita before being shipped to New Jersey on July 10, O’Neill said.

Rombauer, third in the Belmont Stakes, does not have a next-race goal, trainer Michael McCarthy said. He described the Haskell as “a possibility.”

“He seems to be doing well and he’s coming back into form,” McCarthy said.

California-based Medina Spirit, the first-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, is nominated to the Haskell Invitational, but has had only one three-furlong workout, on June 14, since a third-place finish in the Preakness Stakes, casting significant doubt on his participation. Trained by Bob Baffert, Medina Spirit tested positive for the banned medication betamethasone in the Kentucky Derby.