A rest, then the big one

BOSSIER CITY, La. - The morning after his win in Saturday's Grade 2, $500,000 Super Derby, Ten Most Wanted looked like he had never even run in the race. He was alert and energetic, seemingly ready to tackle his next assignment, the $4 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Oct. 25.

"He walked me this morning," said Wally Dollase, who co-owns and trains Ten Most Wanted. "He came out of the race really good. That's one thing about him, he's got tremendous constitution. He ate up last night and these are signs that the race didn't faze him that much."

Ten Most Wanted, who was within himself when he defeated Soto by a half-length in the Super Derby, flew out of Louisiana on Monday for Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif. He will train there before shipping to nearby Santa Anita about five days before the Breeders' Cup.

"He's going to get a little break now," Dollase said. "He needs it because the travel takes something out of him. The next 10 days will be very easy. He'll do some jogging and light galloping, and we won't work him for quite a while, probably two weeks. He'll tell us."

Dollase believes the added distance Ten Most Wanted will get in the 1 1/4-mile Classic will benefit him. One start before the 1 1/8-mile Super Derby, the colt won at the Classic distance when he powered to a 4 1/2-length win in the $1 million Travers at Saratoga.

Ten Most Wanted, whose sire also won the Travers and Super Derby, and finished second in the Classic, will attempt to become the latest Super Derby starter to win the Classic. In all, six have accomplished the feat, with four pulling off the double in the same year: Tiznow, Concern, Unbridled, and Sunday Silence.

Next-race plans for Soto, who had won all five of his career starts heading into the Super Derby, are pending, said his trainer, Michael Dickinson. He was back home at his Tapeta Farm base in Maryland on Sunday morning.

"We're not making any decisions now, or for the next three weeks," said Dickinson, who will first consult with the colt's German-based ownership group, Galopp LLC, before making plans for Soto.

Soto, who one start prior to the Super Derby set a Mountaineer Park track record in the Grade 3 West Virginia Derby, came out of the Super Derby okay, said Dickinson.

"It was a good effort," he said. "He's back here and happy and out eating grass."

Crowned King, who rallied for third in the Super Derby, will be turned out at a local farm for about a month, and when he returns to training will prepare for a turf campaign at Fair Grounds. His first start back could come in the $100,000 Woodchopper on turf in December, said his co-owner and trainer, Billy McKeever Jr.

Crowned King's biggest career wins came on turf in the $200,000 USA Stakes at Lone Star Park.