Unified gets first taste of two turns

ELMONT, N.Y. – The undefeated Unified will get his first start around two turns in the Grade 3 Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth on June 18. On Thursday, he got his first two-turn workout, going seven furlongs in 1:30.13 over the Belmont training track.

Unified, the winner of the Grade 2 Peter Pan, began his work from the half-mile pole inside of the 4-year-old Shaman Ghost – last year’s Queen’s Plate winner – and the pair went in splits of 13.23 seconds, 25.66, and hit the wire in 50.66 seconds. The work continued through and around the first turn, with Unified going five furlongs in 1:03.48, six furlongs in 1:15.87, and eventually pulling up a mile in 1:45.85.

“I just wanted to give him some experience going around the two turns,” trainer Jimmy Jerkens said. “You could tell he was confused when he got there – ‘What the hell, aren’t I supposed to pull up?’ He got back up in there a little bit. It was okay.”

Jerkens also worked his top older male, Effinex, who went six furlongs in 1:13.95 in preparation for the Grade 1 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs. Effinex, who worked in company with the unstarted 3-year-old Preservationist, galloped out seven furlongs in 1:27.62.