LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Without any of the drama or whispers that accompanied his first day of training following the Kentucky Derby, Justify returned to training Thursday morning at Churchill Downs for the first time since his epic Preakness triumph amid building excitement toward the final leg of the Triple Crown, the June 9 Belmont Stakes. Justify, who remained undefeated in five career starts when capturing the Preakness last Saturday at Pimlico by a half-length over Bravazo, showed no signs of wear from his demanding campaign on Thursday, with an easy gallop of nearly 1 1/2 miles on a perfect spring morning. Regular exercise rider Humberto Gomez was aboard the chestnut colt for a routine that took less than 10 minutes. Afterward, assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes expressed his gratitude for and satisfaction with the colt, who will be gunning for a Triple Crown sweep in the 150th Belmont Stakes. The colt’s demeanor and constitution “makes it very easy for us,” said Barnes, who as usual is deputizing here in the temporary absence of his boss, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. “This horse carries his weight very well and has just made it very easy for me,” Barnes said. :: Save 20% on PPs, digital paper subscriptions, and more with DRF's Memorial Day sale! After the May 5 Kentucky Derby, Justify appeared lame in his left hind foot. Baffert and Barnes treated Justify for a minor foot bruise, which momentarily raised concerns about whether the colt could continue along the Triple Crown trail. No such issues have emerged in the Preakness aftermath. In his Thursday return to training, Justify jogged clockwise to the wire from the 5 1/2-furlong backstretch gap, then turned around for his gallop. Barnes, astride the stable pony, met him and Gomez at about the five-furlong pole following the colt’s second time around the one-mile Churchill oval, and they quickly walked back together to Barn 33. “I saw just what I needed to see,” said Barnes. Justify “backed up, had a good bounce in his step, very happy. Just took it easy with him out there, went about a mile and three-eighths. Bob just said to give him a nice, easy first day back, which we did. He seemed to really enjoy it.” Baffert, who ended a 37-year Triple Crown drought three years ago as the trainer of American Pharoah, is scheduled to return from his California home to Louisville this weekend to oversee training for at least a couple of mornings. Baffert has said Justify might breeze twice here before being flown to New York on June 6, including this Sunday or Monday. Justify is one of five possible starters for the Belmont based at Churchill, where officials have reserved an exclusive training period of about 10 minutes (7:30-7:40 a.m.) each morning for those horses. Fans can watch the training session from the clubhouse on the frontside, a local tradition that dates to the 1997 Triple Crown campaign of Silver Charm, trained by Baffert. The other Belmont hopefuls stabled here are Bravazo, Tenfold, Restoring Hope, and Free Drop Billy. The charter that will transport Justify to Islip, N.Y., on June 6 is one of two charters being booked out of Louisville International Airport for that week by Tex Sutton, with the other scheduled for the previous day. Bandua likely to give it a shot Trainer Dermot Weld said Bandua is “more likely than not” to run in the Belmont Stakes after he watched the horse go through the equivalent of a seven-furlong workout in Ireland on Thursday morning.   Unlike in America where workouts are timed, Weld said there was no official clocking of Bandua’s move, which was done over a wood-chip course in his Rosewell House yard in Ireland.   “I was delighted with him this morning,” Weld said by phone. “I thought he went very nicely.”   Bandua is a Kentucky-bred son of The Factor owned by Calumet Farm. He has won both of his races, both at 1 1/4 miles on turf. “He’s a big horse, nearly 17 hands,” Weld said. “I see no reason why he wouldn’t go a mile and a half. He’s a very relaxed individual.”   Weld said he wants to confirm transportation arrangements and a jockey assignment before fully committing to run. Weld won the 1990 Belmont with Go and Go. Weld also ran in the race in 1991 with Smooth Performance (8th) and in 1995 with Off’n’Away (6th). - additional reporting by David Grening