o besos | Horse Racing Free Tips

This Side Up: If the Hardboot Fits…

Don't know about you, but I'm not really looking for a Hall of Fame horse out there. I would gladly settle for the one of those blurred snapshots of the adolescent sophomore crop, with plenty left to play for in the Preakness. Just so long as we can guarantee an evening of uncomplicated euphoria for connections of the fated horse among 20 who have already confounded the odds even to enter the gate for the GI Kentucky Derby (presented by Woodford Reserve).

Because they will be able to tell you, Saturday evening, that there's no such thing as an ordinary Derby winner. Okay, so this is not quite the race we pictured a few weeks ago, when Life Is Good (Into Mischief) and Greatest Honour (Tapit) and Concert Tour (Street Sense) seemed to be trapping champion Essential Quality (Tapit) in an asphyxiating triangle of brilliance. But nothing makes a backstretch professional madder than pundits announcing, even as the winner is hosed down, that this looks like it must have been an “average” Derby. If you think a Grade I race of any description can ever be easy, just try winning one. And then come back to us.

That said, personally I would welcome like an old friend a fairly nondescript Derby this time. Because the strands embroidered into the fabric of the race over the past couple of years could really do with some support stitching that offers a little less color, and maybe a little more durability.

To many of us, it felt more important last year to stage the Triple Crown races on their usual dates than at their usual venues. As it was, Churchill's three priorities at the time appeared to be Churchill, Churchill and Churchill, and their unilateral postponement to September (ultimately unavailing, with the turnstiles still locked) rendered the series a nonsense, with a nine-furlong Belmont in June, and a Preakness shoehorned into October.

As for the melodrama of the previous year, and everything that has since happened to one of the central characters, I get a headache just thinking about it. And you know what, whatever the race may owe the owners of its first disqualified winner, connections of Country House (Lookin At Lucky) would probably find someday winning the damned thing “properly” no less cathartic.

Actually there was nothing too ordinary about the year before, either, albeit at the opposite end of the spectrum of edification. For Justify (Scat Daddy) performed a vital service for the breed in underscoring the recent rebuke of American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) to those who had spent a generation peddling the heresy that a five-week Triple Crown had become obsolete. In fact, one of the incidental drawbacks of 2020 was that some, celebrating the intervals between races, were so quick to renew their complicity with the commercial erosion of the breed.

Somehow, then, this race finds itself on a streak of sensationalism. On the one hand, anything and everything that contributes to the Derby tapestry can only heighten the historic sense in both aspiration and achievement come the first Saturday in May. But right now it would feel great just to showcase some of the abiding virtues that have underpinned the breed, through good times and bad: above all, a fidelity to those attributes in the Thoroughbred that make this stampede–20 horses going flat out at the same, critical stage of their development, balancing speed and stamina on the fulcrum of the two-minute mark–the ultimate measure of its sustainability.

In other words, give me a hardboot winner.

This week our community grieved the loss of John T. Ward, Jr., 20 years after he saddled Monarchos to become the only Derby winner bar Secretariat to break two minutes. That was an old-school masterpiece, built on lore inculcated by two preceding generations: father, uncle, grandfather. Uncle Sherrill, for instance, had saddled his first winner at Kenney Park when just 18 and ended up ushering himself and Forego into the Hall of Fame.

Incidentally, colleague T.D. Thornton reminded us this week that Monarchos was followed by Giacomo four years later as the eighth gray winner. To say that Essential Quality would be ending a gray “drought” since, however, slightly overstates the matter from an English point of view. The Epsom Derby, first run in 1780, has been won by just FOUR grays–and none since 1946!

Arguably Ward's most significant legacy is Sky Mesa, as consistent a stakes sire as he is bred to be, Monarchos being one of many modern Derby winners to have disappointed at stud. Let's hope that promising starts by American Pharoah and Nyquist will help stop the rot, because we certainly we haven't had too many recent races like 2007, with a podium of Street Sense, Hard Spun and Curlin (not to mention Scat Daddy down the field).

O Besos training this week at Churchill | Horsephotos

The only horse in this whole field by a Derby winner is O Besos–and his sire, Orb, has just been sold to Uruguay, having been discarded virtually overnight by the market. From the family of Ruffian, I would love to see him have the last laugh on the fast-buck commercial breeders.

Hometown trainer Greg Foley certainly fits the hardboot bill. His late father Dravo, who started out as a jockey and then trained for 48 years, saddled 1,123 winners as a stalwart of River Downs and Hazel Park. He never did turn up an elite performer, but Greg's sister Vickie won the GI Woody Stephens S. a couple of years ago, with Saturday's GI Churchill Downs S. entrantHog Creek Hustle (Overanalyze), and Greg has also raised the bar: his 1,429 winners since 1981 are now headed by Sconsin (Include), in the GII Eight Belles S. at the “Derby” meet eventually staged last September and set to face Gamine (Into Mischief) in Saturday's GI Derby City Distaff.

O Besos has to buck the Derby speed trend, established since his sire came from the clouds, but looked made for a test like this when closing through the final three-sixteenths in the GII Louisiana Derby in :18 2/5. Okay, the six-week lay-off isn't exactly old-school, but O Besos has been working like a horse sitting on a breakout. And if you think a horse like this could only win an ordinary Derby, well, suits me: Cinderella had to be measured for a slipper, but a hardboot would do just fine.

The post This Side Up: If the Hardboot Fits… appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Bandoroff’s Dream of a Denali Exacta

If anyone sees Conrad Bandoroff on the Churchill Downs backside Friday morning, be sure to check in on him.

With the possibility of a Denali-consigned exacta in the GI Kentucky Oaks, the farm's vice president said the flutter of butterflies in his stomach will probably have doubled in size by the dawning of Oaks Day.

“During the lead up throughout the week, there's always so much going on that you can kind of keep yourself distracted,” he said. “I imagine that Thursday night, that's when it might start to set in, or during the drive from Lexington to Louisville on Friday morning.”

The Denali exacta will be popular amongst handicappers, and if it were to win the payout certainly wouldn't be too extraordinary. While 'TDN Rising Star' Malathaat (Curlin) is the expected favorite, Travel Column (Frosted),the second Denali representative and another 'Rising Star,' was given 3-1 morning line odds as the co-second choice.

“Just to have a horse in the starting gate is a huge accomplishment,” Bandoroff said. “It's not an easy thing to do, but we pride ourselves in raising Saturday afternoon horses, or in this case Friday afternoon horses. We're very grateful that we're going to get to be there for the ride and we'll hope for the best.”

Travel Column with stakes-winning dam Swingit at Spring Ridge Farm. | Mathea Kelly

Bandoroff's connection to Travel Column runs deeper than her success at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Sale. The OXO Equine colorbearer was co-bred by Denali Stud.

Chris Welker, the owner and operator of Spring Ridge Farm along with her husband, Fasig-Tipton's Executive Vice President Bayne Welker, purchased Travel Column's dam Swingit (Victory Gallop) for $50,000 from the Denali consignment at the 2016 Keeneland November Sale. A full profile on breeder Chris Welker can be viewed here.

“We knew Swingit well,” Bandoroff said. “We had all the foals out of her up until the point that the Welkers bought her and she always threw a really nice foal.”

When Bandoroff and his father couldn't get the mare out of their heads after the sale, they called up the Welkers and suggested a foal share with Frosted. The Spring Ridge Farm owners agreed, and Travel Column was foaled in April of 2018.

“We thought a good Frosted out of this mare would be a very commercial prospect,” Bandoroff explained. “We always had her pegged for Saratoga. Every time we would go out to Spring Ridge and see her, she just kept looking better and better. Chris did so much work with her and the filly really blossomed coming into the sale.”

Bandoroff has a vivid memory of Travel Column's time at the Saratoga sale before she was purchased by OXO Equine's Larry Best.

“We were at the consignment on the first day of showing, standing with Larry and [advisor] John Dowd. Larry had said his game plan for the sale was that he was looking for colts by proven stallions.”

Denali had two Curlin colts in their consignment, both of which would later hit the seven-figure mark at the sale, so Bandoroff said they had assumed Best was on one of the colts.

“As the show went on, Larry would just kind of hang around the consignment,” Bandoroff recalled. “But every time he came, there was this gray filly that kept catching his eye. And that's a lot of how Travel Column was. She had this presence on her. I remember even myself, we would be showing and I'd just look across the way, and there was that Frosted filly. She had that way of capturing your attention. So sometimes you have to call an audible, and Larry ended up buying a filly by a freshman sire.”

Travel Column's $850,000 hammer price was the most expensive sale for her first-crop sire that year and she left Saratoga as the co-fourth highest-priced filly of the sale.

“We knew she was going over well, but for her to bring $850,000 was incredible,” Bandoroff said. “Honestly, we were going to be thrilled if she brought half of what she did. It was one of those where it was the Saratoga magic. But that was just the start of it. She's been a lot of fun from the start of it and it's been a great ride.”

Tabbed a 'Rising Star' on debut, Travel Column has gone head to head with Stonestreet's Clairiere (Curlin) in her three most recent starts, besting her rival twice including a victory in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks in her final prep before the Kentucky Oaks.

“Her Fair Grounds Oaks was her most impressive performance,” Bandoroff said. “Coming off her defeat to Clairiere [in the GII Rachel Alexandra S.], this was just a different filly. You could tell going into the turn, she said I'm not getting beat today. So we're as optimistic as we can be that she's going to put in a big effort on Friday.”

Travel Column will depart from the sixth position in the Oaks for trainer Brad Cox, who took last year's edition of the same race with Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil) and who also has the top choice in the GI Kentucky Derby with champion Essential Quality (Tapit).

“For a period of time at Fair Grounds, Travel Column's workmate was Essential Quality,” Bandoroff shared. “From watching some of the breezes, I can say that she's a pretty tough workmate. She's given him as much as he can handle.”

Shadwell Stables' Malathaat is one of three Stonestreet-bred fillies in this year's Oaks, but she's the only one to have gone through a sales ring.

“I remember when we went out to Stonestreet to look at the horses we would be selling for them,” said Bandoroff. “That filly walked out and it was just like, wow. Sometimes a horse can take two steps out of the barn and you know they're the goods My dad and I were standing there with [Stonestreet yearling manager] Robert Turner and [advisor] John Moynihan and we looked at them and asked what the chances were of that filly actually coming to the sale, because we thought Barbara [Banke] would probably keep her. She was just a queen.”

Malathaat looks to get a fifth straight victory in Friday's GI Kentucky Oaks while making her first start under the Twin Spires. | Coady

Malathaat is the third foal out of Stonestreet homebred Dreaming of Julia (A.P. Indy), a Grade I winner for the farm. She sold as a yearling for $1.05 million to Shadwell Stable at the 2019 Keeneland September Sale through the Denali consignment.

The speedy bay is now undefeated in her first four starts, most recently taking the GI Central Bank Ashland S. for Todd Pletcher, who also took her dam to the Kentucky Oaks for a fourth-place finish.

“She had so much class and quality at the sale and she obviously lived up to that,” Bandoroff said. “Todd Pletcher has handled her brilliantly. She has grit, and while I think some people will knock her and say she hasn't won with that great of speed figures, she does what she needs to do to win. She's a perfect example of the Stonestreet breeding program and how successful they've been.”

Bandoroff said that having a connection to an Oaks winner would be a first for Denali Stud, fulfilling a goal that's been in the back of their minds for many years.

“We've been fortunate to have had graduates win some very big races, but we haven't won an Oaks yet,” he noted. “It's a bucket list race that we would love to win. Being a nursery and having so much of our business focused on mares and their foals, I know the Oaks has been a dream of my dad's and it's a big dream of mine. To have potentially sold, or co-bred and sold, an Oaks winner is, you know, pinch me.”

Denali Stud will have more to look forward to after the new Oaks winner is crowned on Friday with a connection in the GI Kentucky Derby the following afternoon.

O Besos (Orb) was bred by Barrett Bernard and then foaled and raised at Denali. The GII Louisiana Derby third-place finisher will represent his breeder as well as fellow co-owners Tagg Team Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds and Terry Stephens.

“We always liked him as a foal and a yearling,” Bandoroff recalled. “He was a big, strong, solid colt. It's been fantastic for [Bernard] because this is a guy who owns one or two mares at a time, so from a very small group to have a Derby horse, that's what it's all about. We've raised one Kentucky Derby winner in Animal Kingdom and it would be amazing if we could do it again.”

The post Bandoroff’s Dream of a Denali Exacta appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Kentucky Derby ‘Kisses’ For Santana

It just feels right that a Derby horse whose name translates to “kisses” has an origin story filled with so much love; love of the horse, love of the sport, and love for one especially strong little girl. When O Besos enters the starting gate beneath the Twin Spires this Saturday, he'll have more people rooting for him than only those listed in the program.

The story begins in 1993 at Trinity Meadows, a now-defunct racetrack located just west of Dallas. A filly named With A Splash was entered in a $2,500 claiming race, and horseman Carl Potts took notice.

Potts convinced his owners, the Hall family, to claim the filly, hoping to breed the granddaughter of Roberto. The claim was voided when With A Splash broke down during the running of the race, but Potts bought her anyway.

It proved a shrewd decision — With A Splash foaled nine winners from 11 starters, four of which earned $100,000 or more.

The best of her foals was Snuggs and Kisses. Sired by Soto, the filly was born in 2007. By this point, Potts' daughter was three years old and had already survived more than most people endure in an entire lifetime.

Her mother was 40 when she became pregnant, and an amniocentesis when she was just three months along showed the presence of an extra chromosome. Potts remembers being horrified when the hospital performing the procedure wrote them a prescription for an abortion.

Instead, Santana Love Potts was born six months later, healthy and happy.

“When people see this little girl, she's opened a lot of eyes,” Potts said, becoming emotional. “I've never been married, and I never had peace of mind until this little girl came along.”

Santana Love Potts, the namesake behind O Besos' dam, Snuggs and Kisses

When Santana was just 12 months old, Potts noticed small dark spots along the insides of her wrists. A visit to the doctor revealed that she was suffering from leukemia.

“We went from the doctor's appointment straight upstairs and lived in the hospital for a year,” said Potts. “It was the toughest thing I ever had to do.”

St. Jude's Children's Hospital treated Santana with the most intense regimen available at the time, for upwards of 96 hours at a time. All that time, Potts spent every moment he wasn't taking care of his horses at Santana's side. When she turned two, doctors finally declared her to be in remission.

“This little girl,” Potts said, his voice wavering, “you know, you get a horse ready to run, take them over to the paddock and send them out, and that horse might let you down. But this little girl, she's never let me down.”

Santana loved helping her daddy at the farm, especially bringing the young horses in from the field. She and that daughter of Soto met in 2008, when the yearling filly would allow Santana to “ride” on her back as she was led in from the field.

Potts named that filly Snuggs and Kisses in Santana's honor.

“Santana likes to snuggle and give everybody kisses,” he explained.

A big filly, Snuggs and Kisses showed she'd need a little extra time before entering training, so the Hall Family gave her to Potts. He turned her out for several months, allowing the filly time for her growth plates to close.

In her third career start, Snuggs and Kisses ran third in a maiden special weight at Churchill Downs. It was that race that made Kentucky native Dr. Barrett Bernard stand up and take notice.

An emergency room physician and graduate of the University of Louisville School of Medicine, Bernard first fell in love with horse racing through his father, who particularly loved harness racing. Though the man worked banker's hours (including Saturdays), he always made time to take his son to the local OTB on Kentucky Derby day.

Bernard had gotten into a few small partnerships after his residency training was completed, but as he began to ease back on medicine — from 100 hours a week to something more reasonable, like 60 — he wanted to spend more time enjoying his passion for horse racing.

“It's my relaxation time,” said Bernard. “I like to go out and watch my horses train, and of course to see them race. It's like a mini-vacation.

“I actually have a son that I just can't watch races with; he's jumping up and down, slapping the program against his hand. My friends always say, 'Why don't you get more excited?' But as an E.R. doc, you have to be even-keeled. You can't be up one minute, then doom-and-gloom the next, so I just sit back and enjoy the race my way.”

Potts hesitated to sell even part of Snuggs and Kisses, knowing there was more to the mare than she'd shown on the track at that point. However, with Santana's medical bills and the always-challenging economics of a small-time trainer, it was hard to turn down Bernard's offer.

At first, Bernard bought half of Snuggs and Kisses for $25,000. Still a bit immature mentally, the filly finished off the board once before running a good third at Tampa and a fourth at Keeneland.

Eventually Potts relented and allowed Bernard to buy out the second half of the filly.

“I told him then, 'I want you to remember that Carl Potts sold you the best horse you ever had,'” the trainer remembered.

In her very next start, Snuggs and Kisses broke her maiden for a $50,000 tag.at Churchill Downs. She would go on to win 12 of her 32 starts, finishing on the board 21 times and earning $288,020. She may not have won a stakes race, but in her final start in February of 2013 at six years of age, Snuggs and Kisses defeated millionaire and Grade 1 winner Daisy Devine by a head at Fair Grounds.

“She could really run,” said Bernard, 72. “She gave us so many thrills, I wouldn't have sold her for any amount of money.”

Though Bernard had never previously owned a broodmare or bred a Thoroughbred, he couldn't bear to let Snuggs and Kisses go, so he decided to breed her himself. He still has just the one broodmare.

“She has a home for life,” Bernard said. “And the fact that he named her for his daughter, that just makes her even more special. She still loves carrots, I go out to Knuckles Farm in Midway and feed her once a month or so.”

As it turns out, Snuggs and Kisses was an even better broodmare than her dam.

Her 2014 son by Stormy Atlantic, Transatlantic Kiss, is a stakes-placed earner of $203,516. Her 2016 colt by Central Banker has earned $162,418 thus far.

“She's gold,” Bernard said. “It doesn't matter what I breed her to, she just throws runners.”

Now, her 2018 son by Orb is taking Bernard and family to the Kentucky Derby.

O Besos ran fourth in the G2 Risen Star and was an impressive late-closing third in the G2 Louisiana Derby for trainer Greg Foley.

“No matter what happens, this has been such a blessing,” Bernard said. “In all seriousness, he really can be there at the end. He'll do his best.

“Even small people in the Thoroughbred industry can get lucky and make it big occasionally. That's what I've thought my whole life; I just didn't think I'd be the one to do it.”

O Besos will have his fans cheering for him from outside the track, as well, and likely a few extra kisses blown toward him on the television screen.

“I'm not really a gambling person, but I could put $100 on the horse,” Potts said, laughing. “I'll be watching the race with Santana, cheering him home.”

O Besos training for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs

The post Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Kentucky Derby ‘Kisses’ For Santana appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Derby Notes: Improving O Besos Shows Strong Gallop Out In Final Breeze

Bernard Racing LLC, Tagg Team Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds and Terry L. Stephens' O Besos was the lone Derby contender to breeze Thursday at Churchill Downs where he cruised a half-mile in :48.

With jockey Marcelino Pedroza in the saddle, O Besos began his work at the three-furlong pole and worked through early fractions of :12 and :36.20. Pedroza shook the reins at the Orb colt at the wire where he picked up his tempo through a five-furlong gallop out of 1:00 and continued six furlongs in 1:12.60.

O Besos will have a scheduled walk day Friday when at least 16 Derby and Oaks contenders are scheduled to have their final works. They are: Ava's Grace (Oaks), Bourbonic (Derby), Coach (Oaks), Competitive Speed (Oaks), Dynamic One (Derby), Helium (Derby), Highly Motivated (Derby), Keepmeinmind (Derby), Known Agenda (Derby), Malathaat (Oaks), Sainthood (Derby), Search Results (Oaks), Soup and Sandwich (Derby), Starrininmydreams (Derby), Travel Column (Oaks), Will's Secret (Oaks).

The National Weather Service is calling for a 90 percent change of precipitation Saturday morning in Louisville and Lexington. At Keeneland, Derby contenders Hidden Stash and Like the King could move their works to Friday, according to their respective trainers.

At Santa Anita, Zedan Racing Stable's Medina Sprit worked six furlongs in 1:12.20 and is slated to arrive at Churchill Downs Friday at 1 p.m.

BOURBONIC, DYNAMIC ONE, KNOWN AGENDA, SAINTHOOD – Friday will be the work day for trainer Todd Pletcher's Kentucky Derby quartet.

“The forecast keeps changing, but it is looking dicey for Saturday,” Pletcher said after his runners galloped 1 3/8 miles over a fast track Thursday morning. “Twenty-four hours won't make a difference.”

Pletcher plans to work three of the Derby horses at 7:30: St. Elias Stable's Known Agenda with jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard, Repole Stable, Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable's Dynamic One with jockey Jose Ortiz aboard, and WinStar Farm and CHC Inc.'s Sainthood with exercise rider Amelia Green aboard.

Calumet Farm's Bourbonic likely would work at 9 o'clock with exercise rider Hector Ramos aboard.

Ramos was aboard Known Agenda this morning at 7:30 and 20 minutes later on Bourbonic while Green partnered Sainthood at 7:30 and Carlos Perez Quevedo was on Dynamic One at 7:30.

HELIUM, SOUP AND SANDWICH – D J Stable's Helium and Live Oak Plantation's homebred Soup and Sandwich stretched their legs Thursday morning on the eve of their planned final Derby preparations. Helium, with Paolo Levi aboard, and Soup and Sandwich, with Gilbert Hernandez, both galloped 1 ½ miles for trainer Mark Casse.

“They'll both breeze tomorrow; Helium will go around 5:25 and Soup and Sandwich will go at 7:30,” Casse's assistant David Carroll said. “They'll just go an easy half-mile. They both had their major works last week and came out of it extremely well. Tomorrow will just be a maintenance move. Normally we'd go Saturday but with the forecast we'll back it up a day and play it on the safe side.”

Helium, who is undefeated in three starts, and Soup and Sandwich, who is 2-for-3, are both lightly raced and full of potential, though that's where the similarities end.

“They are two different types of horses to train,” Carroll said. “Helium is a really beautiful mover and gets over the ground and trains into the bridle while Soup and Sandwich has his own way of going, but when he breezes, he's all business.”

HIGHLY MOTIVATED – Klaravich Stables' Highly Motivated came out onto the track under Peter Roman shortly after 7:30 and galloped then walked to the starting gate during the 15-minutre training window for Derby and Kentucky Oaks horses.

Trainer Chad Brown was pleased with what he saw and will keep an eye on the weather for the Blue Grass (G2) runner-up's final work.

“It went fine and it was good to get that out of the way,” Brown said. “I'm just trying to figure out now when I'm going to try and breeze. I'm going to watch the weather; I'd prefer to work him Saturday morning before the rain comes. I was speaking to the track superintendent and looking for a little guidance on that.”

HOZIER – Rebel Stakes (G2) runner-up Hozier galloped a mile and a half at 9:15 under exercise rider Joel Osorio for trainer Bob Baffert.

Hozier is No. 21 on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard.

KEEPMEINMIND – Spendthrift Farm, Cypress Creek and Arnold Bennewith's Keepmeinmind galloped a mile and a half a little before 6 o'clock with Walter Davila aboard for trainer Robertino Diodoro.

Winner of the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) here last fall, Keepmeinmind is scheduled to work shortly before 6 o'clock Friday morning.

“David Cohen is flying in tonight to work Ava's Grace (for the Oaks) and Keepmeinmind and then fly back to ride that afternoon at Oaklawn Park,” said Sean Williams, assistant to Diodoro. “We put Walter on him this morning to get a feel for him in case something happens and David doesn't get in.”

Keepmeinmind is No. 23 on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard

KING FURY – Fern Circle Stables and Three Chimney's Farm's King Fury galloped 1 ½ miles during the reserved time for Kentucky Derby and Oaks horses. The winner of the Lexington Stakes (G3) at Keeneland in his most recent start is expected to have his final workout on Saturday, according to Greg Geier, assistant to trainer Kenny McPeek. He's at No. 21 on the Derby points leaderboard and needs a defection to make the field of 20.

MIDNIGHT BOURBON, SUPER STOCK – Winchell Thoroughbreds' Midnight Bourbon and Erv Woolsey's and Keith Asmussen's Super Stock each had an easy Thursday morning as they readied for their final Derby works in the coming days for trainer Steve Asmussen.

“Midnight Bourbon stood in the starting gate and galloped a mile and Super Stock backed up to the wire and galloped a mile and a quarter,” Asmussen's longtime assistant Scott Blasi said.

Blasi indicated that Super Stock will work Saturday, followed by Midnight Bourbon on Monday

O BESOS –Bernard Racing, Tagg Team Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds and Terry L. Stephens' O Besos worked a half-mile in :48 early Thursday morning at Churchill Downs.

“We're really pleased with how the overall work went and how strong he galloped out,” trainer Greg Foley said. “Our horse has shown improvement in every start so far. We think leading up to the Derby he's going to keep showing that improvement and run a big effort. He'll be ready to make a run at the field at the top of the stretch.

“We had some distance questions when we ran in the Louisiana Derby but he was the only horse in the field that day who was making up any ground.”

O Besos will have a scheduled walk day Friday.

STARRININMYDREAMS – Stewart Racing and WinStar Farm's third-place Lexington Stakes (G3) finisher Starrininmydreams is scheduled to work early Friday morning, according to trainer Dallas Stewart.

SHAPING UP: THE KENTUCKY DERBY – Likely starters in the 147th running of the $3 million Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (Grade I) for 3-year-olds at 1 1/4 miles on Saturday, May 1 in order of preference (with possible jockey and trainer): Essential Quality (Luis Saez, Brad Cox); Hot Rod Charlie (Flavien Prat, Doug O'Neill); Super Stock (Ricardo Santana Jr., Steve Asmussen); Like the King (Drayden Van Dyke, Wesley Ward); Known Agenda (Irad Ortiz, Todd Pletcher); Rock Your World (Joel Rosario, John Sadler); Bourbonic (Kendrick Carmouche, Todd Pletcher); Medina Spirit (John Velazquez, Bob Baffert); Midnight Bourbon (Mike Smith, Steve Asmussen); Mandaloun (Florent Geroux, Brad Cox); Caddo River (TBA, Brad Cox); Highly Motivated (Javier Castellano, Chad Brown); Helium (Julien Leparoux, Mark Casse); Soup and Sandwich (Tyler Gaffalione, Mark Casse); Dynamic One (Jose Ortiz, Todd Pletcher); Sainthood (TBA, Todd Pletcher); Hidden Stash (Rafael Bejarano, Vicki Oliver); O Besos (Marcelino Pedroza, Greg Foley); Get Her Number (TBA, Peter Miller).

Possible starters within the Top 20 on the preference list: Dream Shake (TBA, Peter Eurton).

Next up in order of preference: Hozier (TBA, Bob Baffert); King Fury (Brian Hernandez Jr., Kenny McPeek); Keepmeinmind (David Cohen, Robertino Diodoro); Starrininmydreams (TBA, Dallas Stewart).

The post Derby Notes: Improving O Besos Shows Strong Gallop Out In Final Breeze appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post