Track Phantom getting accustomed to blinkers

Trainer Steve Asmussen said following Track Phantom’s fading fourth-place finish in the Louisiana Derby that he planned to try blinkers on the colt in the Kentucky Derby, and Track Phantom has been getting accustomed to the new equipment in daily gallops.

“He looked beautiful training today,” Asmussen said Wednesday. “The blinkers are for what he did from the quarter pole to the wire last time, not what he does in the morning, but I do want them on him.”

Track Phantom won the Gun Runner and Lecomte and finished second to Sierra Leone in the Risen Star before setting the pace and checking in fourth March 23 in the Louisiana Derby. Asmussen plans to work Track Phantom for the first time since that start on Sunday, weather permitting.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.