Work All Week Rises in the Phoenix

When asked post-race why he’d entered Illinois-bred Work All Week in Friday’s GIII Phoenix S. at Keeneland, owner Richard Papiese had a simple, one-word answer. “Dirt,” he said. Indeed, the homebred gelding won for the eighth time in as many starts on a conventional dirt surface and, should he emerge none the worse for wear, will press on to the GI Breeders’ Cup Sprint in four weeks’ time. Off the board in a single 3-year-old appearance going long on the grass, Work All Week went seven-for-eight in 2013, suffering his lone defeat at the hands of Sweet Luca (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the Addison Cammack H. before closing the year with wins in the restricted Tex’s Zing S. at Fairmount and in the Lightning Jet S. at Hawthorne. Winner of an Oaklawn allowance in his 2014 bow Jan. 19, the chestnut wired the field in that track’s Hot Springs S. Mar. 8, took some time off and repeated the dose in the Iowa Sprint H. June 27, claiming the scalp of favored Delaunay (Smoke Glacken) by a half-length. He’d had just one run since, trying to undo the damage in this year’s Cammack H., but a 130-pound impost proved too weighty and he succumbed yet again to a late run from Sweet Luca. Work All Week won the break, but was happy enough to allow longshot Zee Bros (Brother Derek) take over from there through a quarter in :21.77 over the sticky going. Bern Identity and Rainbow Heir (Wildcat Heir) raced as a team just in behind as C. Zee lingered one from the tail. Florent Geroux allowed Work All Week to poke his head in front leaving the five-sixteenths and the two put several lengths on their rivals into the final furlong before holding C. Zee in the run to the wire. 

Friday, Keeneland 
STOLL KEENON OGDEN PHOENIX S.-GIII, $200,000, KEE, 10-3, 3yo/up, 6f, 1:09, wf. 
1–@WORK ALL WEEK, 122, g, 5, by City Zip 
     1st Dam: Danzig Matilda (SP, $109,705), by Repriced 
     2nd Dam: Danzig’s Orphan, by A Native Danzig 
     3rd Dam: J’accuse Fromage, by Jean-Pierre 
O/B-Midwest Thoroughbreds (IL); T-Roger A 
Brueggemann; J-Florent Geroux. $120,000. Lifetime 
Record: 14-11-2-0, $532,571. Werk Nick Rating: C.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–C. Zee, 118, c, 3, Elusive Bluff–Diamondaire, by 
Distorted Humor. O/B-Jacks or Better Farm Inc (FL); 
T-Nicholas P Zito. $40,000. 
3–Bern Identity, 122, c, 4, Bernstein–Maddalena, by 
Good and Tough. ($43,000 yrl ’11 KEEJAN; $75,000 
yrl ’11 KEESEP). O-George & Lori Hall; B-Galleria 
Bloodstock, Crosshaven Bloodstock, Petaluma 
Bloodstock et al (KY); T-Kelly J Breen. $20,000. 
Margins: 1, 2, 3/4. Odds: 2.20, 6.20, 2.70. 
Also Ran: Lemon Drop Dream, Rainbow Heir, Mr. Baker, Zee Bros. Scratched: Eastwood. 
Click for the brisnet.com chart or the brisnet.com PPs. VIDEO.