Donegal Racing's Keen Ice (Curlin) put in his final breeze early Tuesday morning at Churchill Downs in preparation for Saturday's GI Belmont S. The Dale Romans trainee covered a half-mile in :50.20 with regular exercise rider Tammy Fox aboard.
“I thought he looked great and he worked great; it looked perfect,” Romans said. “He's doing so good that it's scary. It's all a matter of whether or not he's good enough. There's not another fear to have. With a lack of pace [Keen Ice] will be laying closer. This is a race that, even though people think it's for a deep closer, it's not; you need to be in the race. Woody Stephens said years ago that it's a speed horse race going a mile-and-a-half, so lack of pace will keep us in contact and I know that we have the endurance to keep going.”
Keen Ice will look for just his second career trip to the winner's circle Saturday. Campaigned in graded company since his maiden victory, the bay most recently finished seventh in the GI Kentucky Derby. Keen Ice, along with fellow Belmont contender American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) boarded a chartered flight to New York later in the morning.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.