Maximum Security takes it easy in first work back

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – Maximum Security was back on the work tab Saturday for the first time since his wire-to-wire victory in the Grade 1 Florida Derby two weeks ago – although not in the manner one might expect from an undefeated 3-year-old considered to be among the leading candidates just three weeks down the road in the Kentucky Derby.

Maximum Security was officially credited with a half-mile in a slow 54.85 seconds over a fast track at his home base at the Palm Meadows training center. That was the time it took the homebred son of New Year’s Day to complete the final four furlongs of what was actually a one-mile, open gallop that began at the three-eighths pole and ended on the backstretch at the half-mile marker. Maximum Security completed the mile in 2:00.97 with his rider letting him pick up the pace at the end in a manner that is pretty much routine for most horses trained by Jason Servis, who observed the “work” from his regular spot on the second floor of the dormitory adjacent to the three-sixteenths pole.

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“I just wanted to open gallop and get some air into him,” Servis explained. “It took me 20 days to get him back to something like this after his race two starts back because he ran so hard that day. He ran big last time, too, but he seems to have bounced back better, which is why I had him do a little something this morning. I would have liked him to have gone a bit quicker today, but that’s okay. He’s plenty fit. I’m just trying to maintain. I’ll probably bring him back a week from Monday and do this again but have him pick it up a little, maybe go in 1:58. He’s right, I just have to keep him that way, just stay out of his way a little bit and avoid problems.”

Maximum Security is scheduled to ship to Churchill Downs on a flight likely to also include Florida Derby runner-up Bodexpress and Blue Grass winner Vekoma on April 30.

Saturday was a busy morning at Palm Meadows. Other key names on the tab included Gulfstream Park Oaks runner-up Dunbar Road, an easy half-mile over the main track in 50.50 seconds, along with her Chad Brown stablemates Bricks and Mortar and Robert Bruce who breezed five furlongs in company in 59.66 over a firm turf course.