Tale of Verve, Bodhisattva have final Preakness workouts

Tale of Verve and Bodhisattva, the two horses who could be the longest prices in what is shaping up as a small field for the 140th Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico, both had their final workouts Sunday.

Tale of Verve was entered in the Kentucky Derby but did not scratch in from the also-eligible list. He did land a top rider for the Preakness in Joel Rosario, who was available because Frosted, whom Rosario rode to a fourth-place finish in the Derby, is bypassing the Preakness.

Tale of Verve worked Sunday at Churchill Downs with Dallas Stewart-trained stablemate Lemon Drop Title. He went five furlongs in 1:00.40 shortly after daybreak.

“We’ve been excited about this horse all winter,” Stewart said. “He shows that he’s developing as time goes on, and as the races get farther, it looks like he should get better. We hope it all adds up and go from there.”

Churchill clocker John Nichols had Tale of Verve going in splits of 12.60 seconds, 24.60, and 36.60, with a six-furlong gallop-out time of 1:14.60.

Tale of Verve won his sixth and most recent start, a maiden race at Keeneland. He was bred and is owned by Charles Fipke. He will be on the Wednesday morning charter that also will transport the top three finishers from the Derby – American Pharoah, Firing Line, and Dortmund – to Baltimore.

At Laurel, trainer Jose Corrales worked Bodhisattva an easy five furlongs in 1:04 with his Preakness rider, Trevor McCarthy.

“I’m not necessarily looking for speed in the morning. I’ve already done all of the work with him,” Corrales said.

Bodhisattva will be the first Triple Crown mount for McCarthy, 20.

“He’s a young kid, but he has a lot of talent,” said Corrales, 55, who won more than 1,000 races as a jockey.

Bodhisattva is the top local hope. He most recently won the Tesio at Pimlico on April 18.

At Churchill Downs, there was a little change of pace in the training regimen Sunday for the Bob Baffert-trained duo of American Pharoah and Dortmund, the respective one and three finishers in the Derby, although the bottom line is that both colts appear to be thriving.

The first horses out at the 5 1/2-furlong gap following the regular harrow break at 8:28 a.m. Eastern time, both colts jogged over to the six-stall starting gate in the quarter-pole chute, where they were loaded in for a brief schooling session.

American Pharoah stood in there for maybe a minute and Dortmund just a touch longer. Then American Pharoah and regular exercise rider Jorge Alvarez went into a gallop, going around one full lap, pulling up once he had returned to the quarter-pole and turning back around. From there, accompanied by assistant trainer Jim Barnes on the stable pony, American Pharoah took a few more minutes to happily jog, walk, and prance back to the 5 1/2-furlong gap to return to barn 33. The whole thing took exactly 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, after backing out of the schooling gate, Dortmund and exercise rider Dana Barnes went on to gallop 1 1/2 miles, eventually easing up at the six-furlong pole just as American Pharoah was walking back. They came off the track together in what was another good morning for the two. Baffert was scheduled to arrive Sunday night from California to supervise training Monday and Tuesday before the horses fly to Baltimore on Wednesday.

While the Baffert duo was on the track after the break, so, too, was Derby runner-up Firing Line, neck bowed and accompanied by the pony before going through another routine gallop.

As of Sunday, only nine 3-year-olds were under consideration for the Preakness, including both Carpe Diem and Materiality for trainer Todd Pletcher. Once Pletcher decides if either or both are running, the riding assignments on those horses, plus Divining Rod, will be solidified.

– additional reporting by Jim Dunleavy and Marty McGee