Kentucky Derby winner Country House returns to track

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In most other years, the first weekend of June is a big one for the Kentucky Derby winner. It’s the weekend before the Belmont Stakes, and a final pre-race breeze is typically in order.

But this is no ordinary year. Not with all the tumult surrounding California racing. Not with the Derby disqualification. And not with the horse declared the Derby winner getting sick a few days afterward.

And so it was that 2019 Derby winner Country House went out for a one-mile jog Friday morning at Churchill Downs as if he were just another horse. When the chestnut colt walked out of Barn 19 with exercise rider Marianne Scherer in the saddle, there were no photographers, no reporters, no sightseers.

It was a marked contrast to some recent run-ups to the Belmont, such as when considerable fanfare surrounded five-furlong workouts at Churchill by eventual Triple Crown winners American Pharoah on June 1, 2015, and Justify on June 4, 2018.

Country House “came back to us from the clinic on May 16,” said Kenny McCarthy, the longtime Churchill-based assistant to trainer Bill Mott. “He tacked-walked for a week then started jogging every day. He starts galloping tomorrow.”

Country House was withdrawn from consideration for the May 18 Preakness just a few days after the Churchill stewards disqualified Maximum Security from first in the May 4 Derby, making Country House the winner.

“We heard him cough,” said McCarthy. “His appetite and everything was always normal, but that’s what led us to take a blood test on him. When they never cough, and suddenly they cough, you’re like, ‘Really?’”

Country House spent several days at the Rood and Riddle equine clinic in Lexington, where he was given a thorough check by Dr. Larry Bramlage, who okayed his return to Churchill.

“It really never turned out to be a big deal,” said McCarthy. “To be honest, with any other horse we wouldn’t have sent him to the clinic. We would have dealt with it here, but it was probably best for everyone the way it was handled.”

It won’t be long before Country House leaves Churchill for Saratoga, where Mott himself will be able to spend more time with the colt. “Bill has him scheduled to leave within the next two weeks or so, maybe sooner, whenever it’s convenient,” said McCarthy.

Mott is tentatively scheduled to be at Churchill for the June 15 Stephen Foster night card, where he and the other connections of Country House are to be presented with their engraved winner’s trophies. Assuming all goes smoothly in his training, Country House could make his next start at Saratoga.

Meanwhile, Owendale, another Churchill-based colt who will miss the Belmont next Saturday (June 8) has returned to training. Third in the Preakness, Owendale was seriously considered for a run in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont before owner Jim Rupp and trainer Brad Cox decided against it.

“I’m really pleased with how he’s training, how he’s moving,” said Cox. “But to run him back in three weeks at a questionable distance, that’s not what we think he wants to do, at least not in my opinion or the owner’s. We didn’t want to take the chance of setting him back when there are so many other options out there this summer and beyond.”

Cox said the June 22 Ohio Derby is a possible next race for Owendale, while Warrior’s Charge, fourth as the Preakness pacesetter, could go next in the July 13 Indiana Derby.

Cox added that he is still trying to decide whether to train straight into the Aug. 3 Test with the record-setting Covfefe “or maybe run her first in the Victory Ride” on July 5 at Belmont. He also said Juliet Foxtrot, 2 for 2 this year, probably goes next in the July 13 Modesty at Arlington.

Cox also confirmed recent reports that Leofric, winner of the Grade 1 Clark Handicap here last fall in what turned out to be his final start, has been retired and sold to Chilean interests for stud purposes.