Fashionably Fast, prepping for this Saturday's $150,000 Donald Valpredo California Cup Sprint at six furlongs at Santa Anita, worked four furlongs this morning in 48.40 under regular rider Tiago Pereira at the Arcadia, Calif., track.
“He went fine,” trainer Dean Pederson said. “Hopefully, we're where we need to be. I had him in 47 and three or four, something like that. Times are irrelevant. It's not like we're deciding to run in a maiden 50 or a maiden 20. It will be a competitive race. You just have to hope for the best.
“He had run hard and just needed a little breather,” Pederson added, explaining the gelding's absence of five months since last Aug. 1 when he finished sixth of eight behind victorious Collusion Illusion in the Grade I Bing Crosby at Del Mar. “I have an owner who's very cooperative.”
Actually, Fashionably Fast has three owners: breeder John Harris, Per Antonsen and John Nicoletti, for whom Pederson has trained the last 20 or so years.
A 6-year-old chestnut son of Lucky Pulpit, Fashionably Fast has a 7-4-2 record from 18 starts with earnings of $490,245.
“Like I say, the horse has run hard for us, he ran his eyeballs out against McKinzie (second in the Grade 2 Triple Bend last June 7 to the four-time Grade I winner that was recently retired to stud at Gainesway Farm near Lexington, Ky.).”
Prior to the Triple Bend, Fashionably Fast had reeled off six straight victories, four of them in California-bred stakes.
“The Bing Crosby didn't unfold the way we thought it would and he was a tired horse,” Pederson said. “At that point we decided to give him a few months breather.
“Things have gone well since he came back and if we get beat, we'll have to get outrun. He's had several breezes; he hasn't missed a work.
“One thing about this horse: he doesn't owe anybody a dime.”
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