Texas Red getting back in gear with focus on Triple Crown campaign

CYPRESS, Calif. – Texas Red is nearing the end of his post-Breeders’ Cup vacation.

The upset winner of the BC Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 1, Texas Red has been in light training in recent weeks and will resume serious exercise Dec. 15, trainer Keith Desormeaux said.

“I kind of let him recover from a long campaign,” Desormeaux said Thursday afternoon at Los Alamitos. “He appreciated it, too. He’s put on weight, and he’s grown. Hopefully, we can go through a long Triple Crown campaign.”

Texas Red, who races for a partnership that includes Erich Brehm, Wayne Detmar, Lee Michaels, and Desormeaux, won his first stakes in the BC Juvenile, closing from last in a field of 11 to win by a convincing 6 1/2 lengths as a 13-1 shot. Desormeaux’s brother, Kent Desormeaux, rode the winner.

Texas Red was third to American Pharoah in the Grade 1 FrontRunner Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 27 in his stakes debut.

Keith Desormeaux said Texas Red will spend the winter in Southern California. He said he has yet to plan for Texas Red’s first start but said the $200,000 San Vicente Stakes over seven furlongs Feb. 1 is a possibility.

“We’ve got plenty of options,” Desormeaux said. “I’m thinking of the seven-eighths. My horse is void of speed, and there are only certain things you can do in the morning. We’d have to go in there as a means to an end other than being all pumped up to win.”

By Afleet Alex, Texas Red has won 2 of 5 starts and earned $1,192,300.