Perhaps Eagle and Another Lemon Drop will nod at each other or shake hooves in the paddock before the Lecomte next Saturday at Fair Grounds. After all, they have known each other since they were babies being broken at Classic Mile Training Center in Ocala, Fla.
Dortmund, considered one of the top 3-year-old prospects of the winter, worked a half-mile in 48.60 seconds at Santa Anita on Sunday, his first workout since winning the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 20.
A sore foot followed a month later by an illness kept Calculator from starts in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 1 and the Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 20. Judging from a six-furlong workout in 1:11.60 at Santa Anita on Sunday, nothing will stop Calculator from playing a leading role in the $100,000 Sham Stakes for 3-year-olds on Saturday.
El Kabeir became the first horse to win two scoring races towards the Kentucky Derby by following up his tenacious victory in the Kentucky Jockey Club with an even more impressive win in the Jerome in his first start at age 3.
El Kabeir came out of his dominant victory in Saturday’s Grade 3 Jerome Stakes in good order and if all remains well he could make his next start in the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct on Feb. 7, trainer John Terranova said Sunday.
He needed a new rider. He bobbled at the start. He was behind horses for the first time. He was wide throughout. None of those obstacles mattered to El Kabeir, who made a solid 3-year-old debut Saturday, running away from the pacesetting tandem of Ostrolenka and Nasa in the stretch and drawing clear to a 4 3/4-length victory in the Grade 3, $200,000 Jerome Stakes in a chilled rain at Aqueduct.
El Kabeir completed preparations for his 3-year-old debut in Saturday’s Grade 3 Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct by working a half-mile with a strong six-furlong gallop-out Sunday morning at Belmont Park.
One season after California Chrome emerged from the winter preps at Santa Anita to capture both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, it appears the current crop of locally based runners for the 2015 Kentucky Derby is both strong and deep.
Dortmund remained unbeaten and prevailed in both his stakes debut and his first start around two turns in the Grade 1, $500,000 Los Alamitos Futurity on Saturday, but it wasn’t easy, for both Firing Line and Mr. Z made him work for it in one of the most dramatic and exciting races of the year.
Eagle, who finished a close, closing third in the Nov. 29 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill, had his first work since shipping to New Orleans when he went an easy half-mile last Friday. Trainer Neil Howard said he is pointing Eagle to the Grade 3, $200,000 Lecomte Stakes here at Fair Grounds on Jan. 17.
