Needs Supervision targets Rachel Alexandra
Trainer Jerry O’Dwyer posted a video on social media Sunday morning showing Needs Supervision bucking and playing in a little round pen outside the Fair Grounds barn in which she’s housed. A video, expanding on the cliché, must be worth well over a thousand words, and it was clear Needs Supervision had bounced out of her Saturday win in the $150,000 Silverbulletday Stakes full of life.
“She’s bright-eyed today, looks great,” O’Dwyer said. “She’ll have two days [of] walking, maybe three, depending on her energy level.”
O’Dwyer is based at Laurel Park in Maryland and sent Needs Supervision by van to Fair Grounds, where she has a stall in the shed row of trainer Andrew McKeever, O’Dwyer’s former boss. The trainer goes back home Tuesday – at least for a few days – but the filly stays at Fair Grounds. O’Dwyer said that if all goes well, she’ll start Feb. 16 in the Grade 2, $200,000 Rachel Alexandra Stakes.
“I’ll come back soon and maybe find a couple more horses to bring down,” O’Dwyer said.
Needs Supervision stumbled just after the start of the Silverbulletday, but no injury resulted from the incident. Under Joe Rocco Jr., she beat longshot Eres Tu by three-quarters of a length. Her time of 1:45.34 for one mile and 70 yards produced a Beyer Speed Figure of 76.
