Stablemates Iron Honor (Nyquist) and Ottinho (Quality Road) worked four furlongs in :48.00 (10/184) in company over the Belmont Park dirt training track Saturday. The former is expected to line up in the May 16 GI Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park and the latter remains possible for the June 6 GI Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.
Iron Honor, owned by St. Elias Stable, William Lawrence, and Glassman Racing, won the Feb. 28 GIII Gotham Stakes and was most recently a troubled seventh in the Apr. 4 GII Wood Memorial.
“That work went well,” trainer Chad Brown said. “Iron Honor came out of it very well. I'd say that we are in good shape to head over and try the Preakness. We will give him another shot going two turns.”
Iron Honor will have an equipment change when he makes just his fourth career start in the Preakness. Brown will take the blinkers off the colt, who will be ridden for the first time by Flavien Prat. Iron Honor was equipped with blinkers when he broke his maiden in his first career start last Dec. 13 at Aqueduct and also had them on for his one-length score in the Gotham.
“We're trying to get the horse to relax and maybe not be too aggressive early,” Brown said. “I'm hoping there is some early pace in the race where he can sit back just a little bit and track horses.”
Three Chimneys Farm's homebred Ottinho was second behind Further Ado (Gun Runner) in the nine-furlong GI Toyota Blue Grass Stakes last out Apr. 4.
“I want to keep him as a Belmont possibility,” Brown said. “I was pleased with that last effort. He had a minor issue with his foot that we discovered at Churchill, and we rectified that with a bar shoe. He seems to be very sound and moving forward again.”
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