Kentucky Derby clocker: My Man Sam, Shagaf get to work for Brown

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Chad Brown took center stage here Sunday morning, working his two Kentucky Derby contenders, My Man Sam and Shagaf, over a fast track at Churchill Downs.

My Man Sam was among the first horses to appear when the track opened for training at 5:45 a.m. Working in company with stablemate Majestic Affair, a 4-year-old multiple stakes winner, Blue Grass runner-up My Man Sam eased away from the half-mile pole posting leisurely early splits of 13.60 and 26.23 seconds before picking up the pace down the lane, the pair completing four furlongs in 50.83 before galloping out willingly on even terms in 1:03.44 and pulling up six furlongs in 1:16.61. Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. flew in Saturday evening to work My Man Sam, who was going easiest of the duo at the wire.

“I’m not concerned with the time too much. He’s not a real flashy work horse and he’s just getting used to the surface here,” Brown said. “And from watching other works today, I think the track was faster after the break than before.

“I liked the way he picked it up well within himself, he finished good, and galloped out well,” Brown added. “For him, that was exactly the way he worked at Belmont before I put him on the van for the Blue Grass. I loved his energy level, the way he did it. I’m really thrilled with the horse.”

Brown worked My Man Sam well before dawn to accommodate Ortiz, who made a quick turnaround, returning to New York to fulfill his riding engagements Sunday afternoon at Aqueduct. Ortiz rode My Man Sam in each of his first three starts but was replaced in the Blue Grass by Julien Leparoux to keep his regular seat aboard Shagaf that same afternoon in the Grade 1 Wood. Joel Rosario has picked up the mount on Shagaf for the Derby.

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“I usually don’t use jockeys to work my horses except on the turf,” said Brown. “But this horse has a light mouth and I felt of all the people who have breezed him, he doesn’t do that as much when Irad’s on him. And like you saw today, he went to the pole perfectly well-mannered. And that’s what I was looking for.”

Brown said he’s not going to be looking to do much more with My Man Sam in his final Derby work here next weekend.

“It’s truly maintenance with him,” said Brown. “He’s doing great and I don’t think this horse can get any fitter than he already is.”

Shagaf, who comes off a fifth-place finish over a muddy track in the Wood, worked during the special 15 minute training window reserved for Derby and Oaks horses and looked very sharp. Shagaf breezed a half-mile in 48.35, his final quarter-mile in 23.65 while going easily throughout. His gallop-out was also strong, five furlongs in 1:01.43, up in 1:14.57.

“He worked great,” said Brown. “It’s the first time I worked him by himself and I think it’s the best he’s ever worked. I’m just praying for a dry track on Derby Day. He didn’t get away well in the Wood. He was standing a long time in the gate from the one hole and ran on a muddy track, which I don’t think he liked the rest of the way. The track condition surely played a part in him not getting away as well either the first part of the race. He’s a horse who twice sat a length off a 46-and-change pace, and who doesn’t have to get that far back. My Man Sam, on the other hand, is very dependent on a solid pace to make his run.

“Both my horses are lightly raced, and it is a 20-horse field, so you’d surely like a little more experience,” Brown said. “But on the other side of the coin, sometimes a fresher horse is a sounder horse, and I feel at this moment - knock on wood - although both my horses are lightly raced, they are very sound and fresh coming into this race. And they have enough foundation to be fit enough to get a mile and a quarter.”