Kentucky Derby 2025: First Resort trying to catch up on missed training

While his Grade 2 Remsen winner Poster runs Saturday in the $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, trainer Eoin Harty also looks forward to the return of First Resort, winner of the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club in his most recent start Nov. 30 at Churchill Downs. First Resort is headed to the John Battaglia Stakes, a synthetic-surface race Feb. 22 at Turfway Park.

First Resort’s lack of racing and gap in workouts are the result of freezing weather in Kentucky. First Resort and Poster both were stabled in winter at Turfway, and First Resort’s work schedule did not correspond to the weather.

“There was a brief period between storms where we were able to do something, but there was basically two weeks of lost training,” Harty said. “Poster was able to work when we got enough of a thaw, but then it got cold again, there was no training, and I missed” working First Resort.

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All is good for the Godolphin 3-year-olds. Poster runs Saturday, and First Resort has resumed a regular workout pattern for the Battaglia, which will be his first start in nearly three months. There are no concerns about synthetic for Turfway-based First Resort.

“He trains on it,” Harty noted.

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