Tyler's Tribe makes two-turn debut in return from bleeding incident
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HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Multiple stakes winner Tyler’s Tribe will make his two-turn debut Thursday at Oaklawn Park in an allowance feature that also drew the talented Echo Again.
The one-mile race for 3-year-olds goes as the seventh on an eight-race card. It’s a first-level allowance for those who have never won a race other than maiden, claiming, starter, or statebred at a mile or longer, or which have never won two races. Like all mile races at Oaklawn, the allowance will end at the sixteenth pole.
Tyler’s Tribe is making his first start since Dec. 9, when he finished third in the $150,000 Advent over 5 1/2 furlongs at Oaklawn. He set the pace, was beaten 3 1/2 lengths, and was found to have bled through Lasix.
“We gave him a layoff, gave him some time,” said trainer Tim Martin, who co-owns the four-time stakes winner with Thomas Lepic.
Tyler’s Tribe returned to the work tab Feb. 18, breezing three-eighths in 36.40 seconds. He’s also turned in a pair of bullet works at five-eighths.
“We’ve worked him four times,” Martin said. “We’ve been scoping him after every workout, and he’s scoped clean.”
Tyler’s Tribe turned in his final prep for Thursday on March 23. He worked five furlongs by himself in 59.40 seconds, the fastest move of 20 at the distance that morning. Martin said Tyler’s Tribe galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.20 and seven furlongs in 1:26.
“If he can’t run a mile, I’m going to be shocked,” Martin said. “I’ve been wanting to try it. He acts like he wants to do it. He’s had a lot of good, strong gallops.”
Tyler’s Tribe gets pedigree support for the added distance as his sire. Sharp Azteca, was a multiple stakes winner at a mile. His wins included the Grade 1 Cigar Mile.
Tyler’s Tribe, who has used his natural speed to win 5 of 7 starts by a combined margin of 59 3/4 lengths, will break from post 6. He could show the way in the seven-horse field, or track the rail-drawn Echo Again.
Echo Again wired a maiden special weight sprint in his debut last August at Saratoga, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 94.
Martin said Kylee Jordan, the regular rider of Tyler’s Tribe, has long maintained the horse is rateable. Martin said Tyler’s Tribe showed that when working five-eighths in company in one of his recent drills at Oaklawn.
“He worked five-eighths with Joe Frazier, a pretty nice horse, and he got in front of Tyler and [Kylee] just sat on him,” Martin said. “As soon as she moved on him, he shoots after [Joe Frazier] and went in 1:00.”
Martin said he has seen changes in Tyler’s Tribe from 2 to 3.
“He’s a lot more stronger this year,” Martin said.
Others in the field Thursday include Giroovin, who comes off a runner-up finish in the $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby at Sunland Park. The third-place finisher from the race, Wild On Ice, won the Grade 3, $600,000 Sunland Derby on Sunday.
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