With all of the heavy lifting done, it was a quiet morning beneath the Twin Spires at Churchill Downs with routine gallops and some gate schooling the order of the day for Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks entrants.
The respective morning line favorites for the Derby and Oaks, Forte and Wet Paint, both galloped with the former going 1 3/8 miles and the latter a mile and a half.
ANGEL OF EMPIRE/HIT SHOW/JACE'S ROAD, VERIFYING – Gary and Mary West's Hit Show, West Point Thoroughbreds and Albaugh Family Stables' Jace's Road and Coolmore's Verifying went to out to train at 7:30 a.m. during the special training time Wednesday, while Albaugh Family Stables' Angel of Empire went out in the next set. All four Brad Cox-trained Derby contenders stood in the starting gate and then galloped 1 ½ miles.
“Everything went really well today,” Cox said. “We stood all four Derby horses in the gate. They stood extremely well. They are going to school tomorrow in the paddock. They are doing great, they really are. They stood in the gate and had really, really good gallops after that. Hopefully everything goes good in the paddock and we'll do as much as we can in the mornings. Hopefully that will translate to them being settled and handling everything well on Saturday.”
When asked if there was a specific reason Arkansas Derby winner Angel of Empire didn't go out with his stablemates, Cox said, “I wanted to stand Verifying and Hit Show next to each other because that's where they'll be on Saturday, in the 1 and 2 (posts). Also, exercise rider Edvin (Vargas) rides both Hit Show and Angel of Empire. Angel of Empire is pretty easy. You can do anything with him. I think a 7-year-old could probably gallop him. He's a super cool horse to be around.”
CONFIDENCE GAME – Don't Tell My Wife Stables and Ocean Reef Stables' Confidence Game returned to the track Wednesday after walking on Tuesday and galloped 1 ¼ miles under exercise rider Alex Cano.
Trainer Keith Desormeaux is known to give his horses two walk days a week, but called the audible to walk Tuesday based on what he thought was best for the horse.
“His last two works were strong,” Desormeaux said. “And, you know, the main reason is that some horses don't rest well in their stall if they don't train. He's the opposite. If you get him out early, he does his thing. He walks 30 minutes and he goes back in his stall and rests. He lays down, he munches on hay, even on a walk day. He takes full advantage of it. So, I'm like you know what? Let's leave the track alone and let him sleep Tuesday. He's going to train again Wednesday. He's going to train again Friday and I'll probably train him Saturday morning early. Since the race isn't until 6:30 or something, I'll get him out and blow some steam off because by that time he'll know what's going on.
“He did go to the paddock, so it's not like he was sleeping all day. he did get out there and get pumped up. That's also another reason I walked. Why get him fired up twice. Onto the paddock isn't enough.”
CONTINUAR – Lion Race Horse Co. Ltd.'s Continuar (JPN) spent an hour training in the mile chute.
Trainer Yoshida Yahagi said Continuar would gallop in the morning.
DERMA SOTOGAKE – Hiroyuki Asanuma's Derma Sotogake (JPN) walked the shedrow in the Quarantine Barn a day after working a half-mile in :49.60.
Trainer Hidetaka Otonashi arrived in Louisville on Tuesday and was at the Kentucky Derby Trainers Dinner Tuesday night at the Speed Art Museum.
DISARM – Winchell Thoroughbreds' Disarm had a light one-mile jog Wednesday morning for trainer Steve Asmussen.
FORTE/KINGSBARNS/MAJOR DUDE/TAPIT TRICE – The Todd Pletcher threesome of Derby colts went trackside at their usual time, right when the track opened at 7:30 a.m. for the 15-minute session for Derby/Oaks trainees. They also had their usual exercise riders on their backs – Hector Ramos on Derby favorite Forte; Elder Flores on the undefeated Kingsbarns, and Amelia Green aboard the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) hero Tapit Trice.
Again, the trio went through their regular exercise, which is a mile and three-eighths in a good gallop.
“Everything is right on schedule,” Hall of Famer Pletcher confirmed when his charges had returned to his Barn 39 headquarters. “They'll all paddock today with the horses for Race 6.”
Forte is owned by Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable and will be ridden Saturday by Irad Ortiz Jr. Kingsbarns runs in the colors of Spendthrift Farm and will be handled in the big one by Jose Ortiz, while Tapit Trice runs for Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway Stable and gets regular rider Luis Saez.
LORD MILES – Vegso Racing Stable's Wood Memorial (G2) winner had a light gallop Wednesday morning at Churchill Downs.
Lord Miles drew post 19 in Saturday's Kentucky Derby.
MAGE – The Florida Derby (G1) runner-up to Forte was out for a gallop Wednesday with regular exercise rider J.J. Delgado.
“He's looking really well,” said Gustavo Delgado Jr., assistant to trainer Gustavo Delgado Sr. “He galloped about a mile-and-a-half again, and he finished the last three or four furlongs increasing his speed. Most importantly, when he came back, his breathing was nearly normal, and he wasn't breathing hard. I think he's going to run well.”
Javier Castellano will ride the son of Good Magic, owned by OGMA Investments LLC, Ramiro Restrepo, Sterling Racing LLC and CMNWLTH, out of the No. eight post position. He's 15-1 on the morning line.
PRACTICAL MOVE/REINCARNATE – Trainer Tim Yakteen changed his routine with his two Derby colts Wednesday morning at Churchill Downs. He had his gray Sham Stakes (G3) winner Reincarnate take the early slot at 5:20 with exercise rider Baltazar Contreras attached. Then at 7:30 during the special Derby/Oaks training period, he had Contreras take out the big bay Practical Move.
“Just put a little variety in it for the horses,” the conditioner said.
Reincarnate, who is owned by an extended partnership led by Gavin Murphy's SF Racing, galloped a mile and three-eighths before returning to Barn 27. Conversely, Pierre and Leslie Amestoy and Roger Beasley's Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Practical Move merely jogged a mile, an unusual move for a Derby horse midweek coming up to Saturday's Classic.
Yakteen was asked if everything was OK with Practical Move. The trainer said: “Everything is fine.”
Reincarnate, who'll have the saddle services of Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez for the Run for the Roses, will break from Post seven in the 20-horse lineup. Practical Move will break from Post 10 and have Ramon Vazquez at the controls.
RAISE CAIN – Andrew and Rania Warren's Raise Cain visited the starting gate and galloped a mile and a half under Rene Morales for trainer Ben Colebrook.
Winner of the Gotham (G3) in the mud, Raise Cain schooled in the paddock Tuesday and will have another paddock session Thursday.
There is rain the forecast three days out from Derby 149 and that doesn't bother Colebrook.
“Nick Zito (Hall of Famer and two-time Derby winner including Go for Gin in the slop in 1994) said it was going to rain Saturday,” Colebrook said. “I'll take that. The forecast said 60 percent (chance of rain) Friday and 40 on Saturday … oh, now it's 54.
“He has handled an off track and that is nothing that we have to worry about. Some handle it better than others, but what we need is pace.”
Gerardo Corrales has the mount Saturday and will break from post 16.
ROCKET CAN – Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott had the Into Mischief colt, owned by Frank Fletcher Racing Operations, on the track for a gallop of about a mile-and-three-eighths with regular exercise rider Guelser Cardona.
The colt, who drew the No. 18 post position and was issued odds of 30-1, will have Junior Alvarado aboard in the Derby.
“All's good,” said Mott of Wednesday's preparations for Rocket Can. “His gallop went well, and he practiced at the starting gate, standing in and backing out.”
SKINNER – The bay colt Skinner followed pattern Wednesday morning for trainer John Shirreffs and went trackside through the six-furlong gap at 9 a.m. with exercise rider Donnie Balthazar in the tack. The pair backtracked with a pony to the finish line, they moved up the tunnelway to the new paddock that has been setup for Derby 149 while the main paddock goes through its total remake.
Skinner did his paddock tour, then returned to the main track for a solid mile and a half gallop. The C R K Stable runner, a close-up third in the Santa Anita Derby in his most recent try, was full of vigor as he moved past his trainer, who looked on from the clocker's stand on the backside.
“I liked his energy,” the conditioner said.
Shirreffs, who won the 2005 Kentucky Derby with the 50-1 shot Giacomo and handled the grand racemare Zenyatta through several championship seasons, said he wasn't sure whether he would have Skinner paddock with horses Wednesday afternoon.
“It's a matter of saving energy,” the trainer said. “That and the fact that what he'll see for a crowd over there today won't be anywhere near what he'll encounter Saturday.”
SUN THUNDER – Following Tuesday's four-furlong breeze with Derby jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., trainer Kenny McPeek had his colt walking the shedrow on Wednesday. Sun Thunder, owned by R.T Racing Stable and Cypress Creek Equine, was clocked in :47.80 for Tuesday's breeze, with blinkers on.
“Everybody's in good order,” McPeek said.
Sun Thunder and Hernandez will exit the Derby starting gate from post position 13. He's listed at 50-1 on the Derby morning line.
TWO PHIL'S – Patricia's Hope, Phillip Sagan, and Madaket Stable's Two Phil's spent an extended period on the track on Wednesday under exercise rider Gonzalo Gonzales. Heading out at 7:30 a.m. with the other Derby and Oaks horses, Larry Rivelli's first Derby horse spent around 30 minutes on the track. He stood in his usual spot along the fence outside his Barn 1 watching all the activity, then he took time to school in the gates before galloping his usual one 1 and 1/4 miles.
Rivelli, jockey Jareth Loveberry, and owner Anthony Sagan looked on, reflecting on how well he has traveled to each track. Including Hawthorne, where Two Phil's trained but has yet to race, Churchill Downs is his seventh stop.
“If he runs his last race he's going to have a huge chance,” Rivelli said. “A lot of people think it's the Tapeta that moved him up (winning the Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park), and it could be. If it wasn't, he's got a serious shot. It's a deep and even year this year. There's no Justify, no American Pharoah, which gives us a shot.”
Two Phil's schooled on Tuesday prior of Race 1, sharing the paddock with fellow chestnut Rich Strike, who won Kentucky Derby 148.
ALSO-ELIGIBLES –.Trainer Dale Romans again had Cyclone Mischief galloping on the track about a mile-and-three-eighths with exercise rider Faustino Herrarte aboard. The colt, owned by Albaugh Family Stables LLC and Castleton Lyons, is the first also-eligible for the Derby, and not in the field of 20.
Hiroaki Arai's Mandarin Hero had a walk day in the Quarantine Barn after working five furlongs in 1:05.60 on Tuesday.
Brereton C. Jones and Naber Racing's King Russell galloped a mile and three-quarters Wednesday.
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