Churchill Downs
Weather: Clear
Track: Fast
Temp: 65
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The action started early, as it usually does when trainer Brad Cox has a Kentucky Derby or Breeders’ Cup horse scheduled for an important work, on Saturday morning at Churchill Downs with CYBERKNIFE and jockey Florent Geroux ready to get down to business just minutes after the racetrack opened for training at 5:15 a.m.
Taiba, the winner of the Santa Anita Derby, will have just one work in preparation for the Kentucky Derby, trainer Tim Yakteen said Saturday, a few hours after he had worked his other potential Derby starter, Santa Anita Derby runner-up Messier.
Taiba was making only his second start in the Santa Anita Derby. Yakteen said Taiba “took the race well, but it was a hard race, and I want to make sure he’s energetic.”
ARCADIA, Calif. – The track was fast, and Messier motored over it Saturday at Santa Anita.
In his first workout since finishing second in the Santa Anita Derby on April 9, Messier worked five furlongs under Drayden Van Dyke in 59.80 seconds over a surface that produced fast times. As a point of reference, Grade 1-placed Stilleto Boy worked five furlongs Saturday in 58.80 seconds.
LOUISVILLE — Barber Road and Zozos, both of whom turned in runner-up efforts in major Kentucky Derby preps, turned in their respective penultimate works for the May 7 classic on Friday morning at Churchill Downs.
Arkansas Derby runner-up Barber Road, working with jockey Reylu Gutierrez aboard shortly after the mid-morning harrow break, worked six furlongs in 1:16.40 seconds, according to Churchill Downs clockers. The main track was officially rated fast at that time, despite still holding moisture from rain the day before.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -- The first words out of trainer Antonio Sano’s mouth upon answering his phone a short while after Simplification turned in his penultimate breeze for the 2022 Kentucky Derby Friday morning at Gulfstream Park were, “Hello Mike, how are you?” The next four, without hesitation, were “So happy! So happy!”
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Todd Pletcher has established himself in the trenches in Louisville, and Friday morning, the troops were at work. Pletcher, who will have a string at Churchill Downs throughout this upcoming meeting, sent out Wood Memorial winner Mo Donegal and Florida Derby runner-up Charge It out for their penultimate breezes for the Kentucky Derby, after earlier in the morning working a trio of candidates for the Kentucky Oaks.
Jose Ortiz will ride Simplification in the 148th Kentucky Derby on May 7, his agent, Jim Riccio Jr., confirmed Thursday.
Ortiz has ridden Simplification to a victory in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream and a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Florida Derby there. Ortiz has been the regular rider of Early Voting, the Grade 3 Withers winner and Grade 2 Wood Memorial runner-up. While trainer Chad Brown has not discounted running Early Voting in the Kentucky Derby, he reiterated Thursday he is “60-40” leaning to running him in the Preakness on May 21.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Eric Reed has a Kentucky Derby horse. Rich Strike might not become an actual Derby starter, depending on what happens in the next two weeks, but his name will appear on the Churchill Downs program as part of the field for the Derby on May 7 nonetheless.
Epicenter
Not This Time – Silent Candy, by Candy Ride
Bred in Kentucky by Westwind Farms ($260,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Winchell Thoroughbreds)
The young stallion Not This Time has enjoyed a stellar spring with his runners. His leading 3-year-old is Louisiana Derby winner Epicenter, who will be among the favorites in the Kentucky Derby in less than three weeks.
