Vino Rosso gets back to work with eye to Whitney

ELMONT, N.Y. – Vino Rosso, winner of the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 27, returned to the work tab Saturday, breezing a half-mile in 49.78 seconds over the training track.

Trainer Todd Pletcher said that barring a change of heart by the owners – Mike Repole and Vinnie Viola – Vino Rosso would point to the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney at Saratoga on Aug. 3. Vino Rosso went winless in two starts at Saratoga last summer, finishing third in the Jim Dandy and fifth in the Travers.

“He got way back in the Jim Dandy. The Travers was a peculiar race all the way around,” Pletcher said.

Pletcher said Vino Rosso would likely have one more work at Belmont before moving up to Saratoga for the summer.

Pletcher said that Gidu, who won a one-mile allowance race on June 7, will likely point to the Forbidden Apple at Saratoga on July 12.