Mubtaahij stretches his legs at Arlington

Far from the slowly swelling hubbub at Churchill Downs, Kentucky Derby hopeful Mubtaahij worked three furlongs Tuesday morning at Arlington in a reported 36.20 seconds.

That published time is 1.60 seconds faster than what was initially reported by the skeleton clocking crew stationed at Arlington. The regular official Chicago clocking team remains at Hawthorne until that meet ends Sunday.

Regardless of time, the work pleased Trevor Brown, the assistant to trainer Mike de Kock who is stationed at Arlington with Mubtaahij and his stablemate Umgiyo, who also worked three furlongs Tuesday in preparation for the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic on the Derby undercard.

“I’m pretty happy with him,” Brown said of Mubtaahij. “He did exactly what I wanted him to do.”

Under exercise rider Lisa Moncrieff, Mubtaahij cantered about a mile, started picking up his pace at the half-mile pole, and did roughly three furlongs of fast work. Brown said it was fairly standard exercise for the colt, and that he and de Kock were not looking for anything especially strong from Mubtaahij, who might well be the fittest of all Kentucky Derby contenders.

Twice started on turf last season in England to no great effect, Mubtaahij made his dirt debut over the new track at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai on Dec. 31, won easily, and subsequently made four more starts this winter and spring. He won four of his five Dubai starts, easily avenging his lone defeat, a narrow loss to Maftool in the United Arab Emirates 2000 Guineas, with an eight-length romp in the March 28 UAE Derby.

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De Kock will travel to Louisville from South Africa this weekend, while Mubtaahij flew last week from Dubai to Amsterdam, then on to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, where he boarded a van to the USDA-certified quarantine barn on the Arlington backstretch.

De Kock originally had planned to send Mubtaahij to the Skylight Training Center in Kentucky to train over the all-weather surface there before shipping to Churchill, but he called an audible and decided to keep Mubtaahij at Arlington, even after his quarantine period ended, and utilize the Polytrack there. In Dubai, Mubtaahij did all his training on an all-weather training track adjacent to Meydan, and de Kock desired some continuity of surface. De Kock has sent horses to Arlington before: The Apache was disqualified from first to second in the 2013 Arlington Million.

“Basically, I decided we’d let them settle in there, and I know Arlington well, and in the end, I was reluctant to travel them two days after arriving,” said de Kock. “You have to be adaptable. It was a judgement call, and I think that was the right thing to do because the horses have been blossoming.”

Mubtaahij’s trip took more than 24 hours, and Brown said the colt looked slightly tucked up when he arrived, but it did not take Mubtaahij long to come back to himself. Mubtaahij and Umgiyo each will work once more at Arlington, either Saturday or Sunday, before shipping to Churchill on Monday. Mubtaahij, by Dubawi, will be the only horse in the Derby starting gate racing without Lasix.

“I’m not trying to make any kind of statement,” de Kock said. “He isn’t a bleeder, he’s never had it before, and I don’t want to use Lasix unless they really need it.”

Castellano to ride Materiality

Materiality, the unbeaten winner of the Florida Derby, arrived at Churchill Downs on Tuesday. He is scheduled for his final Derby workout Saturday. On Monday, his trainer, Todd Pletcher, said that Javier Castellano will ride Materiality, replacing John Velazquez, who will remain with Carpe Diem, the winner of the Blue Grass Stakes. Velazquez had been riding both colts.

Materiality was joined on his trip from Florida by stablemates Itsaknockout and Stanford, both of whom are also scheduled to work Saturday at Churchill Downs. Pletcher has five horses in the top 20 in qualifying points for the Derby but said Stanford and Madefromlucky are not certain to run in the Derby. Their status will be determined after their works Saturday, Pletcher said.

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Keen Ice and Frammento are next on the points list, in that order, if Madefromlucky or Stanford defects, and the connections of both want to run.

Entry day for the May 2 Derby is April 29. Posts will be drawn that evening. In addition to the main field of 20, as many as four also-eligibles are allowed at entry time, ranked in order of points accumulated in Derby preps. Scratch time is May 1, the morning of the Kentucky Oaks, owing to the start of early-bird betting.

– additional reporting by Jay Privman