Joseph hoping A. P.'s Secret steps up in Friday's Curlin

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - A. P.’s Secret has pretty much been third in the pecking order, behind White Abarrio and Skippylongstocking, of trainer Saffie Joseph’s top 3-year-olds during the opening half of the season. Joseph hopes that changes when A. P.’s Secret makes his local debut Friday in the 9- furlong Curlin.

A. P.’s Secret has shown improvement in his last two starts by finishing fourth, beaten just five lengths by Belmont winner Mo Donegal, in the Grade 2 Wood, and by taking third as the 8-5 favorite after contesting the pace in the Texas Derby.

A. P.’s Secret turned in his final tuneup for the Curlin on Sunday, breezing an easy half-mile in 49.06 before galloping out five-eighths in 1:02.92 shortly before the renovation break.

“Just a maintenance work today,” Joseph said while watching a couple of his runners breeze over the turf several hours later. “We’ve always thought a lot of him, but he’s just run kind of even so far in most of his races. I think the Curlin is a good spot for him, I believe he’s going to like this deeper track, so we’re going to give him a shot.”

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Skippylongstocking turned in a more serious work on Sunday, completing five furlongs in 1:00.20, breaking well behind stablemate Tallahatchie Bridge before running down Tallahatchie Bridge to be on even terms at the wire.

Skippylongstocking finished third in the Wood, 1 1/2 lengths in front of A. P.’s Secret, and most recently was third in the Belmont Stakes.

“I thought it was a good work, he had to do a lot during the middle stages of the work to make up the ground on Talahatchie Bridge, who is a solid work horse,” Joseph noted. "He’s going to the West Virginia Derby next.”

Joseph was also looking to find an answer for White Abarrio’s poor performance in Saturday’s Haskell. The Florida Derby winner, who ran second behind Tawny Port in the Ohio Derby four weeks earlier, was eased across the wire a distant seventh in the Haskell.

“It’s a mystery to me why he ran that bad. He came out of the race fine,” Joseph noted. “Originally we were going to turn him back to seven furlongs, but figured if Jack Christopher was vulnerable around two turns, which he obviously was, the Haskell was a wide-open race, so we decided to take a chance. Unfortunately our horse never ran his race, for whatever reason. We’ll just see how he does the next few weeks before deciding what to do next. We could try the Allen Jerkens going seven furlongs later in the meet.”

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