Saratoga: Forego candidate Poseidon's Warrior erratic in stretch during workout

Poseidon’s Warrior’s neck victory over Justin Phillip at odds of 36-1 in the Grade 1 Vanderbilt here at Saratoga earlier in the meet obviously came as a major surprise to a lot of people. So too did what happened at the end of Poseidon’s Warrior’s routine half-mile workout here on Friday.

Working by himself shortly after 9 a.m. Poseidon’s Warrior breezed an easy half-mile in 49.80 seconds for trainer Butch Reid. But Poseidon’s Warrior switched leads a couple of times as he came through midstretch while drifting slightly at that point, and then continued to get out even worse once passing the wire and heading into the clubhouse turn, ultimately pulling up closer to the outside rail than the inside.

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“He’s always shown a tendency to lean out during his works,” Reid said a couple of hours later back at the barn. “He’s been doing that for the last year and a half. But he leaned out more than usual this morning and naturally that has us a little concerned although he seemed fine when we checked him out back at the barn.”

Reid had been considering wheeling back Poseidon’s Warrior, who gave him the first Grade 1 win of his career with his victory in the Vanderbilt, in the Grade 1 Forego on Sept. 1 prior to Friday’s work.

“We’ll keep an eye on him and see what happens over the next week and then make a decision about the Forego,” said Reid. “If we don’t run there, we’ll just wait for the Vosburgh, which has always been the plan.”