Uncle Chuck back on work tab with quick half-mile

DEL MAR, Calif. – Uncle Chuck has bounced out of his Los Alamitos Derby win in good order and is preparing for his crucial next race, which will determine whether he goes on to the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5.

He’s 2 for 2, and now will run in either the Shared Belief Stakes on Aug. 1 at Del Mar or, more likely, the Travers Stakes on Aug. 8 at Saratoga as a final prep for the Derby.

In his first work toward that next start, just nine days after his Los Alamitos Derby victory, Uncle Chuck glided around the Del Mar main track Monday morning with an effortless half-mile in 47.60 seconds, after which he galloped out an additional furlong. The work was faster than planned, but not because he was being asked.

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“He looked like Arrogate, didn’t he?” said his trainer, Bob Baffert, referring to the late-developing colt who won the Travers for Baffert in 2016. “He jumps a long ways. Arrogate was like that. He’s got that stride. And he’s fast.”

Also Monday, trainer Mark Glatt sent Sharp Samurai through a five-furlong work in 1:00.60. Sharp Samurai is entered in the San Diego Handicap on dirt on Saturday, but he is expected to run instead on Sunday in the Eddie Read on turf.

Sharp Samurai was second in the Eddie Read in 2018 and fourth last year. He most recently was third in the American Stakes on June 21 at Santa Anita when returning from a 10-month layoff.

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