Whitney runner-up By My Standards to have first work toward Alysheba Stakes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – By My Standards is scheduled to breeze this weekend at Churchill Downs in what will be his first work since a runner-up finish in the Aug. 1 Whitney at Saratoga.

Trainer Bret Calhoun said By My Standards “bounced back quickly” from the Grade 1 Whitney and is now being pointed to the Grade 2 Alysheba on the Sept. 4 Kentucky Oaks undercard at Churchill.

“He’s back here at Churchill training well, looking good,” Calhoun said this week by phone. “He cooled out sharp after the Whitney and I’m very happy with him. We vanned up and back to Saratoga and we got lucky with the weather being fairly cool both ways. Everything’s good.”

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Calhoun intends to use the 1 1/16-mile Alysheba as a stepping-stone toward the Nov. 7 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland for By My Standards, a 4-year-old Goldencents colt who now has run three straight triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures. He earned a career-high 103 Beyer when finishing two lengths behind Improbable in the Whitney.

Meanwhile, Calhoun said the 4-year-old filly Dos Vinos also will breeze this weekend after being a late scratch Sunday from the Groupie Doll at Ellis Park.

“She reared up in the paddock and hit her head on the ceiling,” Calhoun said. “She wasn’t hurt, but they scratched her as a precaution, which was probably the right thing.”

Dos Vinos has won 3 of 5 starts and is 2 for 2 this year. Calhoun noted that last summer prior to a defeat as the 1-2 favorite in an Ellis allowance, “she also got really wound up and acted up on the way over and in the paddock.”

“Apparently, she doesn’t much like it much down there,” he said. “I don’t know.”

On another subject, Calhoun said his stepson, trainer Joe Sharp, continues to recover from a second surgery on July 29 relating to a benign brain tumor removed in early June. Sharp is the son of Calhoun’s wife, Sara Escudero.

“His recovery is going normal, thank goodness,” Calhoun said. “It’s a slow process, but he is making it out to the barn on a regular basis while mostly trying to take it easy. All in all, everything is going pretty much as we all hoped for.”

Sharp, 35, remains in Louisville with his wife, the retired jockey Rosie Napravnik, and their two young sons. His main base is the Trackside training center, and he also has an active string at Saratoga. His latest of 583 winners in a career that began nearly six years ago was Blissful Change, who captured a maiden-special race Tuesday at Indiana Grand.