Jerkens taking a good look at Whitney for Preservationist

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Preservationist, the Grade 2 Suburban winner, returned to the work tab Friday morning, breezing three furlongs in 36.86 seconds over the Oklahoma training track. While that was the time from the three-furlong pole to the wire, Preservationist went out a half-mile in 49.47 and five furlongs in 1:01.75.

Trainer Jimmy Jerkens said he worked Preservationist on Friday because the horse is now seriously being considered for the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney on Aug. 3.

“If we weren’t thinking about it, we wouldn’t have worked him,” Jerkens said. “Still don’t know for sure.”

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Jerkens said Preservationist had lost a little bit of weight coming out of the Suburban, “but he looks like he got it back,” Jerkens added. “I didn’t want him to do anything more than he did; he just ran the other day.”

On the flip side, trainer Todd Pletcher was looking for a sharp work from Whitney-bound Vino Rosso, who is coming off a win in the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 27.

Friday, Vino Rosso worked five furlongs in 1:01.13 over the Oklahoma training track, coming home in 24.17 in company with the unraced 3-year-old En Wye Cee. Vino Rosso galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.77 and seven furlongs in 1:25.92.

“I liked what he did to the wire and really liked what he did after the wire,” Pletcher said. “We’re 15 days out now, wanted a good, solid work, and I think we got that. We wanted to make sure he’s fit off of a little bit of a freshening in between the Santa Anita race and here. We got to be fit and ready to go, and I think we accomplished that his morning.”

◗ Concrete Rose, the Belmont Oaks winner, worked an easy half-mile in 53.25 over the Oklahoma turf course Friday morning. Julien Leparoux was up for the work, her first of two as she prepares for the $750,000 Saratoga Oaks on Aug. 2.

Trainer Rusty Arnold said he would come back with a sharper work next Friday.

– additional reporting by Mike Welsch