(click on the table for a larger view)
- There is a video of Dublin's most recent morning work over at DRF.com's Derby page, or you can watch it on HRTV's Pursuit of the Crown.
Dublin was very full of run in his work, with the rider taking a strong hold of the colt as they worked around the turn. The final time of 1:02.8 wasn't too bad considering he was working over a surface rated MUDDY. It might actually have done him some good in terms of stamina. - Big work for Paddy O'Prado in the slop, stopping the clock in :58.40 for five furlongs; that's some serious morning speed. Despite the great work, I still don't see this colt as a horse that's going to love the dirt, although the slop seemed to suit him pretty well. Contrast this work, however, with the first start of his career (also at Churchill Downs) where he showed nothing in a six furlong race over a sloppy and sealed track.
- Notice that the two Polytrack winners, Stately Victory (Blue Grass) and Dean's Kitten (Lane's End) are both prepping over the deeper Churchill Downs training track.
- Most contenders are putting in works at five and six furlongs with a couple exceptions: Super Saver and Ice Box. Got to love that work by Ice Box; Zito had this colt razor sharp for the Florida Derby and it looks like he'll be ready to run big next Saturday.
- Not a big fan of the slop work by Super Saver and I'm not sure you can attribute it to the track as he's run big in similar conditions in the past. Considering that it was just a 4f work, I wonder if trainer Todd Pletcher was intending for that work to be that slow, or whether he was hoping for something a little quicker. None of his comments following the works indicated anything either way.
(Updated: Looking a little closer at Super Saver's prior races suggests that this is a normal work pattern for this colt. He fired a bullet on 3/28 in preparation for the Ark. Derby and then came back to post a :50 4f work six days before that race. Looks like his most recent work falls right in line with his previous preparation pattern.)