Mr Speaker possible for Travers

Though he won his last race on the turf, Belmont Derby winner Mr Speaker will be given the chance to earn a start in the Travers Stakes by trainer Shug McGaughey.

McGaughey said he plans to give Mr Speaker several works on the dirt over the next few weeks and will evaluate how he trains before deciding between the Travers or the Grade 3, $300,000 Saranac on turf on closing day.

“I’ll give him an opportunity,” McGaughey said Saturday. “If he doesn’t act like that’s what we need to do, then that’s what we won’t do.”

On Saturday, Mr Speaker worked an easy half-mile in 50.60 seconds over the dirt surface over the Oklahoma training track. It will be future works that will determine his Travers status.

“I’ll take him over and breeze him on the main track, and I’ll put him in company,” McGaughey said. “We got plenty of time.”

Lea returns to worktab

Lea, unraced since winning the Grade 1 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream in February, worked four furlongs in 48.83 seconds Saturday morning over the Oklahoma training track. It was his first work in a month.

Lea worked in company with Mosler, who hasn’t raced since winning a maiden race in his second career start last September. Lea and Mosler were head and head throughout the work.

“He worked well,” Mott said of Lea, adding that the Woodward on Aug. 30 “is possible.”

Mott said Tourist, who won Friday’s Sir Cat Stakes, is a candidate for the Grade 1 Secretariat at Arlington on Aug. 16.

– additional reporting by Mike Welsch