Santa Anita: Texas Red back to work with easy half-mile

ARCADIA, Calif. – Texas Red, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, worked an easy half-mile in 51.40 seconds on Saturday morning at Santa Anita in his first drill since returning to training after suffering from an abscess in his right front foot a little more than a month ago.

Keith Desormeaux, who trains and co-owns Texas Red, had said he wasn’t looking for anything fancy, being as this was the first work back, but Desormeaux did say he ideally would have liked to have “gone about a second faster.”

Texas Red is under a tough deadline to make the Santa Anita Derby on April 4 or the Arkansas Derby April 11, and you can tell from what Desormeaux says that he won’t be silly about this endeavor.

“We’re a little pressed for time,” Desormeaux said. “I’m going to put the pressure on me, not the horse.”

Texas Red will work again here next Saturday. That should provide more evidence as to whether this Hail Mary attempt to make the May 2 Kentucky Derby will be successful.

Bayern, Secret Circle drill

In addition to Texas Red, two other previous Breeders’ Cup winners recorded workouts on Saturday at Santa Anita, both for trainer Bob Baffert.

Bayern, the Breeders’ Cup Classic winner, went a half-mile in 47.60 seconds. It was his first work since Feb. 21. He has been dealing with foot issues, but if they are now behind him he should come to hand fairly quickly. Considering how well he ran in the Woody Stephens on the Belmont Stakes undercard last year, a race like the Met Mile could be an objective.

Secret Circle, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in 2013, worked seven furlongs from the gate in 1:25.80 in his final local drill before leaving on Tuesday for Dubai, where he is expected to be the favorite in the Golden Shaheen on March 28.

Victor Espinoza will ride Secret Circle in the Golden Shaheen, according to trainer Bob Baffert. The main reason Espinoza is going to Dubai is to ride California Chrome in the World Cup.

Smith to ride Bolo in Santa Anita Derby

Mike Smith will take over the mount on Bolo in the Santa Anita Derby on April 4, trainer Carla Gaines said Saturday morning.

Victor Espinoza rode Bolo to a third-place finish in the San Felipe last Saturday. Gaines said that with Espinoza on American Pharoah, she desired a rider heading toward a potential Kentucky Derby berth.

American Pharoah, last year’s Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old male, was scheduled to return Saturday in the Rebel at Oaklawn, and is more likely to run next in the Arkansas Derby than the Santa Anita Derby, but Gaines wanted to make the move now, regardless of where American Pharoah shows up next.