Work All Week, The Pizza Man ready to work

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With their final prep races for the Breeders’ Cup two weeks away, Midwest Thoroughbred stars Work All Week and The Pizza Man are scheduled for serious workouts at Churchill Downs this weekend.

Trainer Roger Brueggemann said reigning champion sprinter Work All Week will work Friday, while The Pizza Man, the winner of the Arlington Million in his last start, will work Saturday.

“They’ll breeze one more time before they run, but these will be the quicker works,” said Brueggemann.

Work All Week and The Pizza Man, both 6-year-old geldings bred in Illinois by Midwest, will race on opening weekend of the Keeneland fall meet. Work All Week runs in the Grade 3 Phoenix on opening day, Oct. 2, and The Pizza Man goes in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile the following day.

Sal Gonzalez Jr. will breeze both horses, while Florent Geroux retains the mount on both.

Work All Week is being pointed to the BC Sprint, the race he won last year at Santa Anita, while The Pizza Man will sharpen up in the Shadwell Mile before stretching back out to 1 1/2 miles in the BC Turf. Both BC races are set for Oct. 31 at Keeneland.

“The distance doesn’t really matter much” for The Pizza Man, said Brueggemann. “The main thing is to get a race over that turf course.”

Brueggemann, now in his second year based primarily in Kentucky after more than two decades in Chicago, recently expanded into Churchill after previously having his entire stable at the nearby Trackside training center. Work All Week and The Pizza Man now are among his 28 horses training at Churchill; he still has a similar number at Trackside.

“I thought being at Churchill was probably better for them because the track is a little deeper than at Trackside,” he said.