Bruce Lunsford's Blue Grass Stakes (Grade II) winner Art Collector and Albaugh Family Stables and Spendthrift Farm's multiple graded stakes winner Thousand Words logged their final breezes Saturday morning at Churchill Downs prior to competing in the $1-million Preakness Stakes (G1) in Baltimore, Md., on Oct. 3 – the third jewel of the 2020 Triple Crown.
Art Collector, with Brian Hernandez Jr. in the saddle, worked a half-mile in :48 while Thousand Words and Florent Geroux breezed five furlongs in 1:00.60.
Another possible Preakness contender to work Saturday at Churchill Downs was Peter Callahan's $1.25 million Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) runner-up Swiss Skydiver who went five furlongs in 1:00.80 with Tyler Gaffalione aboard.
Art Collector, the classy 3-year-old son of Bernardini, was the seventh fastest of 78 horses at the distance Saturday and worked through fractions of :12.40, :24.40, :35.80 and :48. The five-time winner galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.60.
Thousand Words, who was scratched from the Kentucky Derby (G1) after he flipped in the paddock, worked with blinkers on through fractions of :11.80, :24.40 and :48.20. He completed his work with a six-furlong gallop out time of 1:13.60.
“I thought he worked a lot better today with blinkers,” Geroux said. “Last week was his first work over the track so he didn't wear them but went very easy. It was a bit more of a serious work today.”
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert is scheduled to arrive in Louisville on Sunday for Kentucky Derby winner and fellow Preakness contender Authentic's work on Monday.
Also working Saturday morning was possible Preakness Stakes contender Swiss Skydiver who completed early fractions of :12, :23.60 and :35.80 before galloping out six furlongs in 1:15.20. Swiss Skydiver's Preakness Stakes status remains in question, according to trainer Kenny McPeek.
In total, there are seven possible Preakness Stakes contenders based at Churchill Downs. They are scheduled to leave Louisville and fly to Baltimore on Tuesday. The locally based Preakness contenders are (with trainer): Art Collector (Drury), Authentic (Baffert), Excession (Steve Asmussen), Max Player (Asmussen), Mr. Big News (Bret Calhoun), Swiss Skydiver (Kenny McPeek), and Thousand Words (Baffert).
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