A pair of contenders for Saturday's GI Preakness S. tuned up for the middle leg of the Triple Crown with works at Keeneland Sunday. GIII Illinois Derby winner Multiplier (The Factor) worked five furlongs in company in 1:00.80 (8/20) with trainer Brendan Walsh in the irons, while Senior Investment (Discreetly Mine), in company with two-time Brazilian Group 1 winner Some In Tieme (Brz) (Shirocco {Ger}), went the same distance in 1:02.00 (15/20) for Kenny McPeek.
“That was very good for Multiplier,” Walsh said. “He doesn't do anything that he's not asked. That was as good a work as he can do. He's never going to be spectacular in the morning. You're never going to think, 'Wow!' But he showed good energy. I didn't have to be super hard on him, which sometimes you have to really get after him.”
Since winning the Apr. 22 Illinois Derby, Multiplier was sold to the partnership of Gary Barber, Adam Wachtel and George Kerr and he will race in Barber's silks.
“They just came after him and got a deal together,” Walsh said. “Thankfully I got to keep him, so it was great.”
Multiplier will be making his fifth start in the Preakness. He broke his maiden at Fair Grounds Mar. 18 before his late-running victory in the nine-furlong Illinois Derby.
“Everybody says on his [handicapping] numbers that he fits,” Walsh said of the Preakness. “I think he's entitled to take a chance. If he had broken his maiden two or three weeks earlier, we probably would have run him in some of the Derby trials. This morning when he worked, he kind of showed me he's a fresh horse and ready to go again. I don't think we're going to see the best of him for maybe another two or three runs, because he's so laid back. I think that's why he made such a gradual climb on his numbers every race he's run. Because he's coming along, coming along. It's not something you can force with him. You have to let him do it himself.”
Fern Circle Stables' Senior Investment got up late to capture the Apr. 15 GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. in his most recent start. He was sixth in the Apr. 1 GII Louisiana Derby in his only other stakes appearance.
Keeneland clockers caught him Sunday in fractions of :13, :25 2/5 and :49 4/5, before going his next eighth in :12 1/5. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:14.
“He was waiting on the other horse, I think, and they dawdled a little bit the first three-eighths, but they came home well,” McPeek said. “That's all he needed. He's plenty fit. … Some In Tieme is no bad horse, and he pretty much dusted him.”
Of his charge's chances in the Preakness, McPeek added, “Look, our horse is ready to go. Is he good enough? Is the pace going to set up for him? I mean, how do they all draw? But he deserves a chance, and I think he'll relish the mile and three-sixteenths, and he's improving. It just seems like he's better and better every day. He's like a copper penny [coat-wise] right now.”
GI Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming (Bodemeister), based at Pimlico since last Tuesday, continues to impress trainer Todd Pletcher ahead of next week's Preakness.
“Aside from deciding to jog him one day instead of gallop, which turned out to be fine, literally everything has gone exactly the way we kind of mapped it out,” Pletcher said. “We got the quiet environment that we were looking for here. He's settled in really well. Each gallop day has gotten progressively better. He's showing us everything we hoped he would show us: good energy; good appetite; he's moving great; he was good at the gate today. He keeps checking off those boxes that we're looking for. We're really happy.”
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