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Art Collector Breezes Half-Mile At Churchill In Ellis Park Derby Prep

On a soggy Saturday morning at Churchill Downs, several likely contenders for the $3-million Kentucky Derby (Grade I) and $1.25 million Kentucky Oaks (GI) recorded published workouts over the “muddy” going, including Bruce Lunsford's Blue Grass Stakes (GII) winner Art Collector (four furlongs in :48.80) and Peter Callahan's multiple graded stakes-winning filly Swiss Skydiver (five furlongs, 1:01).

Other possible Kentucky Derby contenders that recorded breezes on Saturday were John Oxley's $200,000 Lecomte (GIII) hero Enforceable (five furlongs, 1:02.60); Lloyd Madison Farm's $300,000 Indiana Derby (GIII) runner-up Major Fed (four furlongs, :50.20); and Jackie Rojas, Wayne Scherr and Raymond Daniels' likely $200,000 Ellis Park Derby contender Necker Island (four furlongs, :47.80).

It was a busy morning for jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., who worked both Swiss Skydiver and Art Collector. Hernandez got the leg up on Swiss Skydiver around 5:30 a.m. (all times Eastern) and the filly worked through fractions of :13.40, :26.40 and :38.20. She finished her workout with a six-furlong gallop out in 1:14.20, according to Churchill Downs clocker John Nichols.

“She worked really good and handled the muddy surface well,” Hernandez said. “She's a very talented filly as we saw in the Blue Grass how well she handled running against the boys. She cruised along out there this morning.”

Trainer Kenny McPeek reported that Swiss Skydiver would ship to Saratoga and run in the $600,000 Alabama (GI) on Saturday, Aug. 15. Although a moot point in the case of Swiss Skydiver, who is automatically qualified for the Kentucky Oaks with 350 points, the Alabama will offer the Top 4 finishers points on a 100-40-20-10 scale for the Sept. 4 event.

About two hours later, Hernandez jumped aboard $600,000 Blue Grass Stakes hero Art Collector, who clipped through opening fractions of :12.80 and :24.60 for his half-mile drill. The son of Bernardini galloped out five furlongs in 1:01.20 and six furlongs in 1:14.80.

“It's so nice to have a horse who is versatile and can really run over any surface,” trainer Tommy Drury said. “He did everything very easily this morning and it was really just a perfect work. We are still taking things one day at a time. We just have to get there and we're keeping our fingers crossed.”

Drury reported the plan is to still point to next Sunday's Ellis Park Derby as Art Collector's final prep for the first Saturday in September.

One of the first horses to record a workout this morning at Churchill Downs was Enforceable. Sporting blinkers, which he's worn since breaking his maiden last August, the striking gray son of Tapit worked in company on the outside of 3-year-old maiden Ghost Fighter. Enforceable, under jockey Declan Carroll, started about two lengths behind his stablemate and worked through fractions of :12.80, :25.60 and :38.40. Enforceable finished about a half-length to the good at the wire but continued in front through a six-furlong gallop out of 1:15.80 and finished his work with a seven-furlong time of 1:29.60.

“I was very happy with how he worked this morning,” said 21-year-old Carroll, whose father, David, oversees trainer Mark Casse's Churchill Downs string. “He did everything in stride. I was just the pilot.”

Casse was not in town for the work but reported via text following watching a short video of his stretch run, “I really like what I'm seeing.”

About five minutes after Enforceable completed his work, Major Fed recorded his first published move since running second in the July 8 Indiana Derby. Under exercise rider Lindsey Hebert, Major Fed swiftly began his breeze at the three-eighths pole with opening fractions of :12.60 and :37.60. The son of Ghostzapper continued his work around the clubhouse turn and completed a six-furlong gallop out in 1:03.60.

“We gave him a little time off following the Indiana Derby but he's been training pretty steady for a couple of weeks now,” trainer Greg Foley said. “This was his first work back and he handled things very well. It wasn't one of those works where he needed to do much and he looked really comfortable out there.”

Major Fed, who sat No. 16 on the Road to the Kentucky Derby Leaderboard with 38 points prior to Saturday's action in the $100,000 Shared Belief (GII) at Del Mar, will forgo running in the Ellis Park Derby and point straight to the Kentucky Derby.

Currently No. 32 on the leaderboard, Indiana Derby fourth-place finisher and former $100,000 claim Necker Island worked at 7:30 a.m. under Joe Johnson for trainer Chris Hartman.

Indiana Derby winner Shared Sense is scheduled to work Sunday at Churchill Downs. The Brad Cox-trained colt has 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby and is a likely entrant to next Sunday's Ellis Park Derby.

Arkansas Derby (GI) runner-up King Guillermo continued his training Saturday at Churchill Downs. The colt had an easy gallop around 5:30 a.m.

There are four races remaining on the Road to the Kentucky Derby: Saturday's Shared Belief (50-20-10-5); Aug. 8 Travers (100-40-20-10); Aug. 9 Ellis Park Derby (50-20-10-5); and Aug. 15 Pegasus (20-8-4-2). On the Road to the Kentucky Oaks, there are three remaining races: Saturday's Monmouth Oaks (50-20-10-5); Aug. 9 Audubon Oaks (10-4-2-1); and Aug. 15 Alabama (100-40-20-10). For the latest leaderboard updates and more information, visit www.kentuckyderby.com.

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Shared Sense Completes Trainer Brad Cox’s Indiana Derby, Oaks Double

Godolphin homebred Shared Sense went four wide and survived an objection to win Wednesday evening's Grade 3 Indiana Derby, giving trainer Brad Cox and jockey Florent Geroux the graded stakes double on the card after winning the G3 Indiana Oaks with Shedaresthedevil. Sent off as the 5-2 favorite, Shared Sense defeated Major Fed by about three lengths at the finish.

The 3-year-old son of Street Sense completed 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.46 over the fast main track at Indiana Grand, earning his first 20 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. The updated points standings are available here: Derby Oaks Leaderboard

Second-last heading into the clubhouse turn, Geroux made his way to the rail to save ground with Shared Sense. The pair moved up the rail down the backstretch, then found themselves behind a three-wide wall of horses mid-way through the far turn.

Major Fed was on the outside of Shared Sense, and Geroux rode aggressively to make room four-wide and force that rival five-wide as the field turned for home. Major Fed's rider James Graham lodged an objection after the race, but stewards disallowed the claim and let the result stand as Shared Sense skipped home to an easy three-length win.

Graham and Major Fed had to settle for second, while Necker Island and Extraordinary filled out the superfecta.

Bred in Kentucky by his owner, Shared Sense is the first foal out of the Bernardini mare Collective, herself out of the two-time Grade 1 winner Composure (Touch Gold). Collective is an unraced half-sister to multiple Grade 1-placed runners Centring and Penwith.

It took Shared Sense three starts to officially break his maiden; in fact, he was second that day in late November, but the winner Blackberry Wine was later disqualified for a medication positive. In January, Shared Sense finished sixth in the listed Smarty Jones at Oaklawn, but he came back to win an allowance race at the end of February.

Given a few months off and switched to the turf, Shared Sense was sixth in the listed War Chant Stakes on May 23 at Churchill, then went back to the dirt to run second to the undefeated Art Collector in an allowance race at Churchill on June 13.

(Art Collector is entered in Saturday's Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.)

Overall, Shared Sense has won three of his eight starts for earnings of over $320,000.

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Evenly-Matched Group Contests Indiana Derby

It’s rare to see a GI Kentucky Derby prep on a weekday, much rarer to find it on a July weekday, but an evenly-matched field of 10 horses will contest the GIII Indiana Derby Wednesday at Indiana Grand with 34 qualifying points for the Run for the Roses up for grabs.

Lloyd Madison Farms’ Major Fed (Ghostzapper) looks for some racing luck after several wide trips along the Derby trail. A sharp maiden winner on New Year’s Day at Fair Grounds, the homebred was second in a division of the GII Risen Star S. and fourth after a wide journey while closing into a slow pace in the GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby. Hung out in the widest draw in the GIII Matt Winn S. last out May 23 at Churchill, he chased the pace before fading to finish last of 10.

Taishan (Twirling Candy) also looks to rebound while shipping in from the west coast for Richard Baltas. Fourth in the GII Sham S. and fifth in the GIII Southwest S. over the winter, the $150,000 OBS March buy scored in a sloppy Oaklawn optional claimer Mar. 14 with a field-best 92 Beyer before running a good third after moving early into a fast pace in the Oaklawn S. Apr. 11 in Hot Springs. He failed to build on those two efforts, however, when last in a division of the GI Arkansas Derby May 2.

Godolphin’s progressive Shared Sense (Street Sense) goes out for trainer Brad Cox. Sixth in the Smarty Jones S. and War Chant S. in his previous two stakes tries, he nevertheless earned the highest last-out Beyer when earning an 89 as runner-up to the promising Art Collector (Bernardini) last out in a Churchill optional claimer June 13.

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Brisnet.com Triple Crown Throwdown: Indiana Derby

Ed DeRosa of Brisnet.com takes on TDN’s Steve Sherack and Brian DiDonato as they handicap Triple Crown prep races plus the big three races themselves. The three will make $100 Win/Place bets in the preps and $200 Win/Place bets in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont. Highest bankroll at the end wins.

DeRosa – Los Alamitos Derby Result – Uncle Chuck delivered as the heavy chalk. Bankroll: $3680.

GIII Indiana Derby – I had a real tough time separating Earner, Necker Island, and Shared Sense, but one thing is for sure: if those are the three I like, then this should be a playable race as I see both Major Fed and Winning Impression as vulnerable at their morning-line prices. Ultimately, I landed on Earner on top. He fell short going the nine-furlong Indiana Derby distance last out at Churchill Downs, finishing behind next-out Ohio Derby winner Dean Martini and next-out Blue Grass aspirant Man In the Can. His speed can be a weapon here over the aforementioned other contenders I like. Selection: #4 Earner (8-1).

Sherack – Los Alamitos Derby Result – Longshot Great Power set the pace and faded. Bankroll: $2605.

GIII Indiana Derby – The lightly raced Extraordinary still has some upside and enters off a better-than-it-looked fourth-place finish going this distance at Churchill Downs last month. He lost valuable early positioning that day, and made a flashy, wide move on the far turn from far back en route to a very solid effort. Runner-up Dean Martini returned to upset the GIII Ohio Derby. Have to like Luis Saez making the trip to ride as well. Let’s see if he can work out a better trip this time around. Selection: #2 Extraordinary (10-1).

DiDonato – Los Alamitos Derby Result – Required a back-up pick once again, and Thousand Words ran second, but there was no place betting in the race. . . ouch. Bankroll: $3755.

GIII Indiana Derby – Earner and Juggernaut look like they may set this one up for a closer, and Shared Sense is the one I want. He seemed to take a step forward when getting up in that Oaklawn allowance back in February, and while he hasn’t won in two subsequent efforts, he’s earned slightly faster figures–he could easily take another step forward here third off the bench. The turf try wasn’t bad at all, and he did well to be second behind the buzzed-about Art Collector last time in a four-horse Churchill optional claimer. The winner set a slow pace and had things his own way, and Shared Sense caught GI Arkansas Derby third Finnick the Fierce for second. Nine furlongs seems well within Shared Sense’s scope. The grandson of MGISW Composure is out of a full-sister to GSW/MGISP Penwith and half to MGISP Centring. This is a true dirt route pedigree, and he’s bred exactly like Maxfield (Street Sense over Bernardini). Selection: #5 Shared Sense (4-1).

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