Jonathan's Way still pointing down the Kentucky Derby trail

Jonathan’s Way rated behind horses much more effectively in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes than he’d done finishing seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Problem is, while Jonathan’s Way sat back in fifth, First Resort pressed a slow 49.30 half-mile split, getting first run on Jonathan’s Way and beating him by more than two lengths in the KJC. Still, the performance encouraged connections enough that Jonathan’s Way remains a Kentucky Derby hope.

“I’m glad to see the horse take a step forward mentally,” said Phil Bauer, who trains Jonathan’s Way for his lone client, Rigney Racing. “I anticipated him having a different type of trip. I was disappointed into the first turn we weren’t setting the tempo.”

Jonathan’s Way has shipped to Fair Grounds. Bauer wants the colt to settle into a regular training schedule there before setting a race schedule, though he didn’t rule out a January start.

Already part of Bauer’s Fair Grounds string is the 3-year-old filly Two Sharp, an eased-up 5 3/4-length winner of the Nov. 23 Chilukki Stakes. Two Sharp, scheduled for a timed workout this weekend, starts next on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita in the Grade 1 La Brea, and, owing to plane schedules, must travel for the race Dec. 10.

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