Street Band Tunes Up for Apple Blossom With Bullet Work

Grade 1 winner Street Band took to a fast Oaklawn Park track the morning of April 13 to tune up for her next engagement, the April 18 Apple Blossom Handicap (G1), with a bullet breeze.

The 4-year-old Istan filly trained by Larry Jones worked five furlongs in :59 flat, the fastest of seven moves at the distance Monday. It was her second work back since finishing fourth in the March 14 Azeri Stakes (G2). On April 6 she worked five-eighths of a mile in :59 4/5.

Campaigned by Jones along with Ray Francis, Cindy Jones, Medallion Racing, and MyRaceHorse Stable, Street Band is slated to make her third start of the season in the Apple Blossom. She began the year with a third-place finish in the Jan. 26 Sam Houston Ladies Classic Stakes (G3), in which she was beaten less than a length by Lady Apple and was only a neck behind runner-up Serengeti Empress. In the Azeri, Serengeti Empress ran off with the victory on a sloppy Oaklawn track, while Lady Apple finished one spot behind Street Band that day in fifth.

Serengeti Empress, also expected back in the Apple Blossom, breezed a half-mile in :49 April 11 at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. Bayakoa Stakes (G3) winner Go Google Yourself, another expected Apple Blossom contender, worked five furlongs the same day at Fair Grounds in 1:00 4/5.

Lady Apple worked a half-mile in :49 flat on a muddy Oaklawn track April 12.

Entries for the Apple Blossom will be drawn April 15.