Lockdown works for Alabama Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Lockdown, the third-place finisher in the Kentucky Oaks, worked a sharp five furlongs in 1:00.21 on Tuesday over the Oklahoma training track in preparation for the Grade 1 Alabama here on Aug. 19.

Lockdown went in company with Length, who was credited with a half-mile in 47.47 seconds. The two were head and head for most of the drill, with Lockdown going out an extra eighth of a mile.

“She was a little anxious, putting her right beside the other horse, and I told him to do that, but she probably locked on a little too much,” trainer Bill Mott said. “I should have maybe put her in behind and get her switched off the first part of the work, but it was okay.”

Lockdown, who finished second in the Grade 1 Mother Goose in her most recent start, appears to have improved since the winter, when she won the Busanda over Aqueduct’s inner track and finished second in the Grade 2 Gazelle over Aqueduct’s main track.

“Seems like it,” Mott said. “Maybe she’s changed and is one that develops a little later.”

Mott will also run Elate, the runner-up to Abel Tasman in the Coaching Club American Oaks, in the Alabama. Also pointing to the $600,000 Alabama are Actress, Holy Helena, It Tiz Well, New Money Honey, Salty, and Unchained Melody.

◗ Ramon Dominguez, the Hall of Fame jockey whose career was cut short by a head injury suffered in a spill at Aqueduct in 2013, will be inducted into the New York Racing Association’s Walk of Fame in a ceremony ontrack Aug. 25.

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