Mandaloun, Proxy drill for Louisiana Derby

Rush hour Saturday in New Orleans came at 5:45 a.m. out on the Fair Grounds dirt oval.

Dozens of horses, whose connections wanted a piece of a pristine, freshly groomed track surface, worked within about 15 minutes, including three Louisiana Derby hopefuls who breezed one after the other. Among that trio was the likely race favorite, Mandaloun, the Risen Star Stakes winner who went in company with recent Fair Grounds maiden winner Warrant and got an official clocking of 1:00.60 over five furlongs.

Brad Cox, Mandaloun’s trainer, said he had Mandaloun work from the half-mile pole past the finish to the seven-eighths pole around the far turn, then gallop out to the six-furlong pole at the head of the backstretch. Cox had Mandaloun breezing quicker on his watch than the official clocking and got him going out six furlongs in 1:13.20. Whatever the particulars regarding the fractions, this was a serious move one week after Mandaloun clocked a bullet 59.20 for five furlongs and just one week before his start in the $1 million Louisiana Derby, a race Cox won in 2020 with Wells Bayou.

“He can take it,” Cox said. “He’s responding to everything we’ve asked of him this winter.”

:: Bet horse racing on DRF Bets. Double Your First Deposit Up to $250. Join Now.

Indeed, Mandaloun cooled out quickly and playfully popped around his stall after being bathed and put up following his drill. Mandaloun possesses a playful, agreeable temperament and remains a relatively immature horse, which is to be expected of an early-season 3-year-old, but he has been growing increasingly focused and professional this winter.

“He seems to be moving forward at the right time. Every week he’s better, and mentally he’s much more focused,” said Cox, who added blinkers between Mandaloun’s third-place finish in the Jan. 16 Lecomte and his victory Feb. 13 in the Risen Star. “The blinkers have helped, and just getting more education. There’s plenty of him, too; a lot of leg.”

Working less than a minute after Mandaloun was Proxy, third in the Lecomte and runner-up in the Risen Star, and his was a much different kind of breeze. Going solo, Proxy was timed in 49.60 seconds for a half-mile, galloping out steadily all the way down the backstretch before pulling up at about the half-mile pole. Proxy, who will race for the first time in blinkers in the Louisiana Derby, had his major work on March 6 when he went five furlongs in 1:00.60. That came a week after a sharp half-mile – his first work in blinkers – clocked in 47 seconds.

“The important works were the last two, and this was just a maintenance half -- whatever he was comfortable doing,” said Mike Stidham, who trains Proxy for Godolphin. “He went even fractions throughout, had a moderate gallop out, and it was what I was looking for. He’s one of those horses that does what he’s asked to do. The last two works were in company, and he gets a lot out of his gallops every morning. He’s dead fit and ready to go.”

Proxy, like Mandaloun, made a very favorable physical impression after training Saturday morning. Proxy has raced four times at the Fair Grounds meet but still carries good weight and looks fresh. By Tapit, and a brother to the excellent grass filly Micheline, Proxy stands over a lot of ground, has plenty of scope, and should not be troubled by the longer distances he’s about to encounter.

Also working just after the track opened was Starrininmydreams, who went five furlongs in company with Dubai World Cup-bound Title Ready, both timed in 1:00.60. Starrininmydreams won his two starts at age 2 before finishing ninth in the Risen Star, his first race after a lengthy layoff. The colt has much more talent than that performance suggests and trainer Dallas Stewart, who co-owns Starrininmydreams, said he was pleased with Saturday’s work.

Rightandjust, who set the pace and finished sixth in the Risen Star, earned the five-furlong bullet Saturday morning, going in 59.60. Two other Louisiana Derby entrants, Run Classic and O Besos, worked Friday, Run Classic going five furlongs in 59.60, O Besos the same distance in 1:00.80. O Besos was fourth in the Risen Star, his stakes and two-turn debut, while Run Classic comes into the Louisiana Derby win after an appealing dirt-route maiden victory Feb. 13. Midnight Bourbon, the Lecomte winner and third in the Risen Star, is scheduled to work Monday.

Cox also sent Travel Column, who will vie for favoritism with Clairiere in the Fair Grounds Oaks, out for a five-furlong drill in an official 1:01. Working in company with Australasia, who starts in the Crescent City Oaks and was no match for her workmate Saturday, Travel Column, like Mandaloun, galloped out strong, Cox clocking her six-furlong gallop-out in about 1:14.

Working in Cox’s second set Saturday morning was 2-year-old champion and leading Kentucky Derby hopeful Essential Quality, who had his first breeze since winning the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn on Feb. 27, going a half-mile in 48.20 seconds alongside an unraced maiden. Cox said he nearly always works Essential Quality in company and that Saturday’s session was a quiet first step toward Essential Quality’s next start, in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.

“Time-wise we weren’t even looking to go quite as quick as we went. He was into the bridle, worked good, just keeping him honest,” Cox said.