Kentucky Derby clocker: Medina Spirit impresses with gallop
CHURCHILL DOWNS
Weather: Cloudy
Temp: 53
Main Track: Muddy
Turf: Good
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - How quiet was life on the Kentucky Derby watch Sunday at Churchill Downs? So quiet, the highlight of the morning for many was the sight of a rather chunky possum waddling across the racetrack as Clairiere came down the stretch completing her final prep for Friday’s Kentucky Oaks. The pesky critter having first positioned itself just inside the inner rail near the finish line, in order to get a possum’s-eye view as stablemate Pauline’s Pearl completed her Oaks breeze.
The possum’s antics aside, bell boots were the equipment of choice for the majority of the locally based Derby hopefuls who came out to train over the wet and perhaps a bit boggy racetrack during the morning. Most did little more than jog clockwise near the outside rail, since they were coming off their final Derby works 48 hours earlier.
Medina Spirit was the last and most impressive of less than a handful of Derby gallopers here Sunday, the West Coast invader making a very favorable impression as he got down to serious business for the first time since his arrival in Louisville on Friday. He showed plenty of energy galloping 1 3/8 miles over the wet footing, with the majority of it at a little better than a two-minute lick, and at no point giving the appearance of traveling quite that briskly.
Trainer Todd Pletcher sent his four Derby contenders back to the track for the first time since working on Friday, with Sainthood (just prior to the first renovation break), Bourbonic and Dynamic One all out, as expected, for easy jogs (in those familiar bell boots). Unexpected was Known Agenda turning around and breaking off in front of the grandstand to gallop an easy 1 1/4 miles, with the Florida Derby winner striding out nicely and looking quite pleased with himself, ears pricked, as he passed the wire for a second time and headed off into the clubhouse turn.
Other Derby gallopers on Sunday including O Besos during the special training session, and Midnight Bourbon a couple of hours earlier, the latter getting primed for his final Derby breeze scheduled Monday morning. The Mark Casse-trained pair of Soup and Sandwich and Helium jogged first around to the paddock for a little schooling session before continuing another 1 1/2 miles at a similar pace, repeating the same routine they had followed when also subjected to a wet racetrack earlier in the week.
As for the Oaks, it was strictly maintenance stuff for Pauline’s Pearl and Clairiere, who likely received a thumbs-up from the possum after cruising through easy half-miles in 50.59 and 49.69 respectively, the latter galloping out strongest. The two young fillies followed the very familiar formula for trainer Steve Asmussen starters: an easy four-furlong breeze five days before their races and a week removed from their final serious works.