Jerkens pair closing in on stakes runs

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Stablemates Wicked Strong and V. E. Day each put in a stamina-building workout Wednesday at Belmont Park as they prepare for their next engagements.

Wicked Strong, last year’s Wood Memorial winner, worked a mile in 1:42.28 over the training track and will make his next start in the Grade 3, $200,000 Excelsior at Aqueduct on April 25.

Breaking off at the half-mile pole under exercise rider Kelvin Pahal, Wicked Strong went his first half-mile in 51.09 seconds and his last half-mile in 50.17. He galloped out 1 1/8 miles in 1:56.38.

Wicked Strong did not work in blinkers, equipment he started training in and wearing last summer following the Triple Crown races.

“I wanted him to go long and easy; I didn’t want him too much on the bridle,” trainer Jimmy Jerkens said. “In his only race this year, he chased a fast pace and put him on edge. I want to get him in a two-turn mind-set.”

In his only start this year, Wicked Strong finished fourth, beaten one length by Honor Code, in the Gulfstream Park Handicap, a one-turn, one-mile race March 7.

Jerkens also said Wicked Strong went a little too fast early in his previous work.

The Excelsior will be run at 1 1/4 miles, and Jerkens said that race makes more sense for Wicked Strong than the Westchester, a one-turn mile at Belmont Park on May 2.

V. E. Day, who beat Wicked Strong by a nose in last year’s Travers, will make his 4-year-old debut May 2 at Belmont Park in the Grade 3, $150,000 Fort Marcy Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on the turf.

On Wednesday, V. E. Day worked seven furlongs in 1:29.69. Belmont clockers timed him in splits of 38.13 seconds, 1:03.48, and six furlongs in 1:16.37.

“He went just like I wanted him to go,” Jerkens said.

Jerkens had initially thought about running V. E. Day in the $100,000 Danger’s Hour Stakes, a one-mile turf race at Aqueduct, but the race got postponed and ultimately didn’t fill for this Saturday. Jerkens had already decided not to run in the Danger’s Hour before it failed to fill.

Jerkens recalled that V. E. Day won a turf allowance at Belmont last May before winning the Curlin and Travers, both on dirt at Saratoga.

“If he runs unbelievable, maybe I’ll keep him on turf,” Jerkens said. “Whether we go turf or dirt, I think it’s a nice place to start.”