Brad Cox
With two weeks remaining until the first weekend of May, several chief protagonists for the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Longines Kentucky Oaks turned in some key breezes in Kentucky and California. Jeff Drown's Zandon (Upstart), who cemented his spot in the Derby field with an eye-catching victory in the GI Toyota Blue Grass S. at Keeneland Apr. 9, has remained in Lexington to train up to the big race and went a half-mile in :48.60 (see below). The $170,000 Keeneland September graduate covered his opening furlong in :12.80, then...
It was a busy Friday morning at Churchill Downs with 10 GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks contenders logging their penultimate work prior to the first weekend in May. Half of those workers were from Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher's barn--Oaks contenders GII Gulfstream Park Oaks runner-up Goddess of Fire (Mineshaft) (five furlongs, 1:00.80); GI Central Bank Ashland S. winner Nest (Curlin) (four furlongs, :49.80); and unbeaten G3 UAE Oaks heroine Shahama (Munnings) (five furlongs, 1:00.80) and Derby contenders GI Curlin Florida Derby runner-up Charge It (Tapit) (five...
Peachtree Stable's Tawny Port (c, 3, Pioneerof the Nile--Livi Makenzie, by Macho Uno), second in the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks S. just two weeks ago at Turfway, punched his ticket to the GI Kentucky Derby for trainer Brad Cox with a good-looking win in Saturday's GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. at Keeneland. The 5-1 shot found a good spot in an outside fifth rounding the clubhouse turn. Traveling nicely while three wide heading into the far turn, he rolled up on the outside of the top two in the stretch and...
With three weeks remaining until the GI Kentucky Derby, the trio of Crown Pride (Jpn) (Reach the Crown {Jpn}) (six furlongs, 1:18.60), Cyberknife (Gun Runner) (five furlongs, 1:00) and Tiz the Bomb (Hit It a Bomb) (four furlongs, :48.40) worked at Churchill Downs Saturday. Gold Square's GI Arkansas Derby winner Cyberknife worked at 9 a.m. outside of multiple stakes-placed stablemate Tommy Bee (Medaglia d'Oro). Cyberknife started two lengths behind Tommy Bee and completed fractions of :12.20, :23.80 and :47.20. Cyberknife finished even with Tommy Bee around the seven eighths pole...
'TDN Rising Star' Zozos (Munnings), most recently runner-up to Epicenter (Not This Time) in the GII Louisiana Derby Mar. 26, continued his preparations for the May 7 GI Kentucky Derby with a five-furlongs work that was timed in 1:00.20 Friday morning at Churchill Downs. Breezing in the company of his GI Longines Kentucky Oaks-bound stablemate Turnerloose (Nyquist), the Barry and Joni Butzow homebred was out at 5:30 a.m. and broke off about a length behind the GII Rachel Alexandra S. heroine before galloping along through fractions of :24 flat and...
Godolphin's Matareya (Pioneerof the Nile), bet hard throughout, ran to the money in Sunday's GIII Beaumont S. at Keeneland, picking up her first stakes win with a daylight romp against six overmatched rivals. Debuting with a smooth 4 1/2-length wire-to-wire score while geared down late Aug. 20 at Ellis, the homebred disappointed a bit when flattening out to fifth in the GI Darley Alcibiades S. on this strip Oct. 8. Finishing second as the favorite in the Fern Creek S. Nov. 27 at Churchill, the bay was a distant runner-up...
Just One Time (Not This Time) took her career to the next level with her first Grade I score in Keeneland's Madison S. Saturday. Away without incident after being pounded down to 2-1 favoritism late, the lightly raced PA-bred sat towards the back as Lady Rocket (Tale of the Cat) and Kimari (Munnings) knocked heads with longshot Club Car (Malibu Moon) through a snappy first quarter in :22.11. Just One Time has just one beat, Bell's the One (Majesticperfection), as the favorites continued their battle through a :44.50 half-mile. That Grade...
'TDN Rising Star' Zozos (Munnings) returned to the work tab for the first time since his runner-up effort in the GII Louisiana Derby with a half-mile move in :48 flat (17/76) early Friday morning at Churchill Downs. With exercise rider Kelvin Perez in the saddle, Zozos clocked an opening quarter-mile of :25 and completed the final quarter in :23, galloping out five furlongs in 1:00.80, according to Churchill Downs clocker John Nichols. "It was a good first work back after the Louisiana Derby," trainer Brad Cox said. "He came out...
A caravan of over 20 people made the 500-mile journey from central Pennsylvania to central Kentucky last week to watch star Pennsylvania-bred Just One Time (Not This Time) step up to Grade I company in the Madison S. at Keeneland. Their dedication was rewarded when the 4-year-old filly rallied from the last to first to get the win for Warrior's Reward LLC and Commonwealth New Era Racing. "She has developed a bit of a following in Pennsylvania," said Donnie Brown, who operates Warrior's Reward LLC with partner Tom McClay....
Todd Pletcher captured last year's GI Central Bank Ashland S. with the blue-blooded Malathaat (Curlin), who went on to take the GI Kentucky Oaks in her next start. The Hall of Famer looks to repeat in Friday's renewal with another daughter of Curlin named Nest. A dominant debut winner going two turns at Belmont in September, the $350,000 KEESEP buy checked in third in the Tempted S. there next out Nov. 5. Besting next-out Busher S. winner and Saturday's GII Gazelle S. contender Venti Valentine (Firing Line) by a neck...
Gold Square LLC's Cyberknife (Gun Runner) exited his win in Saturday's GI Arkansas Derby in fine shape and is expected to ship to Louisville Tuesday to continue preparations for the May 7 GI Kentucky Derby. The colt, who was making his second stakes appearance after a sixth-place effort in the Jan. 22 GIII Lecomte S., continued a trend of frisky behavior Saturday at Oaklawn when dumping jockey Florent Geroux in the post parade. "I was too far away to do anything about it, but Florent was able to jump up...
Saturday's $1.25-million GI Arkansas Derby was supposed to be all about Secret Oath (Arrogate), who had so dominated her peers that trainer D. Wayne Lukas and owner/breeder Briland Farm decided to roll the dice and bypass what would have been a far easier task in the GIII Fantasy S. The betting public largely endorsed the idea, sending the chestnut off as the 7-5 favorite, but in the end, it was not meant to be, as Gold Square LLC's Cyberknife (Gun Runner) was the recipient of a cerebral ride from Florent...