Midwest Duo Work at Churchill
Updated: September 25, 2015 at 4:15 pm
Midwest Thoroughbreds’s The Pizza Man (English Channel) and Work All Week (City Zip) both breezed a half-mile at Churchill Downs Friday morning ahead of their final Breeders’ Cup preps at Keeneland next weekend.
The Pizza Man worked four furlongs in :49.80 ahead of the GI Shadwell Turf Mile Oct. 3, which will serve as a prep for either the GI Breeders’ Cup Turf or GI Breeders’ Cup Mile.
Reigning champion sprinter Work All Week completed a half-mile in :47.40 (4/32) in preparation for a title defense in the GIII Phoenix S. Oct. 2. The chestnut hopes to use that as launching pad for another title defense in the GI Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
“They both worked very well so we’re real pleased with it,” said regular jockey Florent Geroux, who was aboard both horses. “It’s nice to ride better stuff. Good horses make you look that much better.”
The Pizza Man is undefeated so far this season with victories in Churchill’s Opening Verse S. May 30, Arlington’s GIII Stars and Stripes S. July 11 and the GI Arlington Million Aug. 15. Work All Week, on the other hand, scored his first win of the season last time in Mountaineer’s Senator Robert C. Byrd Memorial S. Aug. 1 following a pair of runner-up efforts in Churchill’s GIII Aristides S. May 30 and Gulfstream’s GII Smile Sprint S. July 5.
“They’re going into their races well–they’re ready,” said Midwest Thoroughbreds’s Richard Papiese. “There will be some good competition, but they’re definitely ready. Our horses are well taken care of as one can see and they tell us when they’re ready. I hope this continues on. They’ve given no indication as to why it won’t.”
Papiese added, “I thought they would both be high level horses but I didn’t know what their ceiling would be. They both answer the call each time. Work All Week got plenty of time off after the Breeders’ Cup and they got a bunch of time last year. The whole idea is to have a good horse this time of the year when it really matters. I know it seems unconventional, but we’re just thinking about the horses. Numbers don’t lie.”