Keen Ice Breezes for Belmont

Donegal Racing’s GI Belmont S.-bound Keen Ice (Curlin), seventh in the GI Kentucky Derby, breezed six furlongs in 1:13.60 at Churchill Downs Wednesday. Tammy Fox was aboard and guided the bay through 1/8-mile fractions of :12.40, :24.40, :36.20, :48.60 and 1:00.60 before galloping out seven furlongs in 1:27.80. “He’s doing well,” trainer Dale Romans said. “He’s picking it up every pole and had a lot of energy galloping out. He has just been so good even before the Derby and he just keeps on improving. I think the further the better. A mile-and-a-half shouldn’t be a problem. I really like my chances.” He continued, “American Pharoah is definitely head and shoulders above the rest of them in class, but I know we do want to go a mile-and-a-half. I know he’s feeling good; he’s sitting on all cylinders. It’s just a matter of if he’s good enough to beat him.” Keen Ice followed a third-place finish in the GII Risen Star S. Feb. 21 with a fourth-place finish in the GII Louisiana Derby Mar. 28.

Mubtaahij Continue Belmont Prep…
Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Maktoum’s Mubtaahij (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) breezed three furlongs in :38.05 at Belmont Wednesday morning in preparation for his next start in the GI Belmont S. June 6. It was the G2 UAE Derby hero’s fourth timed workout since arriving in New York May 15, with his last being a five-furlong work in 1:03.16 Sunday. 
“He went well,” said trainer Mike de Kock’s assistant Trevor Brown. “He basically did exactly what we wanted him to. The important thing was just getting the jockey on him to give him a chance to get accustomed to the horse and get to know him. Irad was pretty happy with the horse. He said he’s ready.” 

Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., who will pilot the colt in the Belmont, was aboard for the first time Wednesday morning. Eighth in the GI Kentucky Derby under jockey Christophe Soumillion, the bay is likely to work one more time before the “Test of a Champion”. 

“I speak to Mike every day and he tells me what he wants from the horse, obviously gauging from his well-being and how he’s eating,” Brown said. “And [Mubtaahij] doesn’t stop eating. If they’re eating, they’ll work. Mike isn’t shy to work horses.” 

Stablemate Umgiyo (Aus) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) also took the track Wednesday in preparation for a possible start in the GI Manhattan S. June 6 or the GI Belmont Derby Invitational S. July 4. 

“He just had a jog around the track today so it was an easy day for him,” said Brown. “He’s doing very good. He’ll probably work sometime this weekend.”

Easy Day for Pharoah…
    American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) walked the shedrow at Churchill Downs Wednesday a day after breezing a half-mile in :48. “Everything looked very good this morning,” Jimmy Barnes, Bob Baffert’s chief assistant, said of the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. hero. Barnes added that American Pharoah would return to the track Thursday at 8:30 a.m. for a clockwise jog around the one-mile oval.