Mor Spirit takes it easy in work

ARCADIA, Calif. – Mor Spirit, the sharp winner of the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita on Feb. 6, worked a half-mile in 48.60 seconds on Wednesday for an expected start in the $400,000 San Felipe Stakes here on March 12.

Ridden by Martin Garcia, Mor Spirit worked with stablemate Uninvited, starting two lengths behind. Mor Spirit moved alongside Uninvited on the turn. They raced together through the stretch.

Trainer Bob Baffert said Mor Spirit galloped out five furlongs in 1:01 and could have done more if he had been urged.

“He was just sitting on him,” Baffert said. “We don’t want him to have too much speed.”

Owned by Michael Lund Petersen, Mor Spirit won the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity in December in his final start at 2. The colt is one of Baffert’s top prospects for the Triple Crown, which he swept last year with American Pharoah.

On Tuesday, Swipe, second to champion Nyquist in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland last October, worked three furlongs in 41 seconds, according to trainer Keith Desormeaux.

Swipe was not credited with an official workout because of the slow time for the distance.

“It’s better that he went too slow,” Desormeaux said. “He wants to do so much, and I won’t let him.”

Desormeaux said Swipe will have a few more slow workouts before working faster on a pattern of every six to seven days.

Swipe is on a tight schedule to be part of the Triple Crown races, Desormeaux said. Last November, Swipe underwent surgery to have a bone chip removed from an ankle. Desormeaux said a start in early April is possible, but any disruption would largely eliminate an appearance in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 7.

He said an early-April race will be a difficult assignment since Swipe will be facing horses who have been racing.

“If he runs in early April, the races are all Grade 1, and they’re a mile and an eighth,” he said. “It will be a tough decision what to do.”