Shancelot turns in sizzling workout for Amsterdam Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – There are a lot of adjectives that can be used to describe freakishly fast workouts. But it’s hard to find the right word to convey the proper reactions to the show trainer Jorge Navarro’s unbeaten 3-year-old Shancelot put on over the main track during the late stages of training hours here Sunday in preparation for next Sunday’s Grade 2 Amsterdam.

With jockey Jose Lezcano aboard, Shancelot went six furlongs from the five-eighths pole in 1:11.53, completing the first five panels to the wire in 56.59 seconds after posting early splits of 22.50 and 32.98 along the way – doing so without ever being asked by Lezcano at any point while working over a chewed-up racetrack approximately 45 minutes after the renovation break.

To put the work in further perspective, the next-fastest five-furlong move on the tab was 1:00.80 turned in by a Chad Brown team a short while earlier.

Shancelot, a son of Shanghai Bobby, debuted at seven furlongs on Feb. 16 in arguably the toughest 3-year-old maiden race contested this winter at Gulfstream Park, leading throughout from his inside post before outlasting Bodexpress to hang on for a neck victory.

Bodexpress came back in his next start to finish second in the Grade 1 Florida Derby, while third-place finisher Fort Worth returned to win a New York-bred maiden race by nearly seven lengths with a Beyer Speed Figure of 91 in his only other outing to date.

Navarro gave Shancelot plenty of time to recuperate from the effort, finally bringing him back last month at Monmouth Park to cruise to an easy 6 1/4-length entry-level allowance victory going six furlongs for which he received a 100 Beyer Speed Figure, winning with speed in reserve.

“He showed a lot of talent since we bought him,” said Navarro, who drove from Monmouth to Saratoga early Sunday morning. “He was working amazing times at [Gulfstream Park West] before his first start, and there’s no doubt he won one of the best maiden special weight races this winter at Gulfstream.

“I didn’t want to push him since I knew he wasn’t going to be a Derby horse, so I sent him to the farm for a while after that. He didn’t beat a lot in his second start at Monmouth Park, but it was the way he did it that was so impressive. But he’s got to step up and really prove himself now.”

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Navarro said he told Lezcano to go the first five furlongs in “under a minute.”

“I knew he’d probably go a little faster than that, but I never expected him to do what he did,” said Navarro. “The way he did it, so easily, was really scary. And he still had plenty of energy left to complete the six furlongs into the turn. It reminded me of the way Private Zone worked when I brought him here before he won the Forego four years ago.”

Navarro said his main goal here this summer for Shancelot is the Grade 1 Allen Jerkens on Aug. 24.