It was “big” work day for trainer Steve Asmussen’s barn Sunday morning at Churchill Downs with Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks King and Queen pins Epicenter and Echo Zulu each working a serious six furlongs in company well before dawn.
Stablemates Epicenter and Echo Zulu, who are expected to be among the favorites for the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, respectively, turned in their penultimate and most serious breezes for the spring classics on Sunday morning at Churchill Downs.
The action started early, as it usually does when trainer Brad Cox has a Kentucky Derby or Breeders’ Cup horse scheduled for an important work, on Saturday morning at Churchill Downs with Cyberknife and jockey Florent Geroux ready to get down to business just minutes after the racetrack opened for training at 5:15 a.m.
Taiba, the winner of the Santa Anita Derby, will have just one work in preparation for the Kentucky Derby, trainer Tim Yakteen said Saturday, a few hours after he had worked his other potential Derby starter, Santa Anita Derby runner-up Messier.
In his first workout since finishing second in the Santa Anita Derby on April 9, Messier worked five furlongs under Drayden Van Dyke in 59.80 seconds over a surface that produced fast times.
Barber Road and Zozos, both of whom turned in runner-up efforts in major Kentucky Derby preps, turned in their respective penultimate works for the May 7 classic on Friday morning at Churchill Downs.
Simplification breezed a super-easy five furlongs under Junior Alvarado in 59.42 followed by a strong and extended gallop-out Friday morning at Gulfstream Park. Daily Racing Form timed the Fountain of Youth winner going six furlongs in 1:11.95 and seven-eighths in 1:24.10 before easing but not pulling up after a mile in 1:37.52 over a track that was on the quick side Friday.
Todd Pletcher has established himself in the trenches in Louisville, and Friday morning, the troops were at work. Pletcher, who will have a string at Churchill Downs throughout this upcoming meeting, sent out Wood Memorial winner Mo Donegal and Florida Derby runner-up Charge It out for their penultimate breezes for the Kentucky Derby, after earlier in the morning working a trio of candidates for the Kentucky Oaks.
Jose Ortiz will ride Simplification in the 148th Kentucky Derby on May 7, his agent, Jim Riccio Jr., confirmed Thursday. Ortiz has ridden Simplification to a victory in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream and a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Florida Derby there.
Eric Reed has a Kentucky Derby horse. Rich Strike might not become an actual Derby starter, depending on what happens in the next two weeks, but his name will appear on the Churchill Downs program as part of the field for the Derby on May 7 nonetheless.
