The NFL Draft begins Thursday night, and for weeks leading up to it, everyone is looking for tangible evidence of which player is the best fit for their team. The NFL Scouting Combine, held roughly two months out, plays a role in defining which college players move up or down the draft board. The Kentucky Derby is May 2. A series of stakes races held globally over the course of several months help comprise the field for the race. Key workouts conducted in between those races and the Derby itself play a role in defining which horses move up or down handicappers’ boards. On Monday, at Churchill Downs, Chief Wallabee put in a workout that is likely to move him up the list of true contenders for the 152nd Kentucky Derby. In his first work over the Churchill main track, Chief Wallabee turned in a five-furlong move in 1:00.01, punctuated by a monster gallop-out, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch. Chief Wallabee started the work sitting behind stablemate Gilded Bandit, a maiden winner on April 4 at Keeneland. With the move beginning at the half-mile pole, Chief Wallabee went off in a slow opening quarter-mile in 25.07 seconds, per Welsch, but got the final three furlongs of his work in 34.94 seconds and went out six furlongs in 1:12 and seven furlongs in 1:26.93. :: DRF Kentucky Derby Package: Save on Past Performances, Clocker Reports, Betting Strategies, and more. The work impressed both jockey Junior Alvarado, who was aboard for the move, and trainer Bill Mott. That team combined to win last year’s Kentucky Derby with Sovereignty. “I thought it was very good, extremely good. Looked like a Sovereignty work to me when he worked two weeks before the Derby,” Mott said. For the second straight week, Chief Wallabee worked in blinkers, equipment he will wear for the first time in a race in the Derby. Mott and Alvarado both felt Chief Wallabee was a little distracted in the Florida Derby, his third lifetime start, where he was beaten a half-length by Commandment and The Puma, who finished noses apart. Prior to the Florida Derby, Chief Wallabee won a maiden race and was second in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, beaten a neck by Commandment. Alvarado said he was a little apprehensive about suggesting adding blinkers for a horse running in the Kentucky Derby. He said he waited four or five days after the Florida Derby to contact Mott about it. “I said, ‘I’m calling you to see if you had any thought about blinkers with him,’ ” Alvarado said on Monday. “He said, ‘I just galloped him with blinkers for the second day.’ I was like ‘Okay, good, so it’s going to be your idea.’ We were laughing.” In the work, Alvarado said he noticed a marked difference when he asked Chief Wallabee to run by and away from Gilded Bandit. Alvarado hadn’t worked Chief Wallabee since before his Jan. 10 debut. “When I asked him past the wire, he normally puts his head high up,” Alvarado said. “He actually lowered himself, leveled off, was reaching forward. I was as happy as I could be. That was the result I was looking for. Feeling him doing it and seeing him do it, that was pretty good.” Asked if Monday’s workout elevated his confidence any, Mott simply said, “I liked what I saw.” :: Get DRF Kentucky Oaks & Derby Clocker Reports by Mike Welsch and the DRF Clocker Team