Shirl's Speight Given Education in Aug. 21 Workout

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Shirl's Speight Given Education in Aug. 21 Workout
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Photo: Michael Burns
Marine Stakes winner Shirl's Speight is 2-for-2 at Woodbine

Highlighted by a carefully orchestrated mile workout on dirt by Shirl's Speight, a handful of potential Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) starters breezed Aug. 21.

Breezing on the Woodbine training track between two separate groups of workmates, one group that provided an early target and a second that provided company to finish his drill, the Roger Attfield-trained Shirl's Speight covered the distance in 1:39 1/5 under jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson. He appeared keen early while behind horses before settling down after the first of two turns. He moved past his strongest workmate under encouragement late in the drill.

A son of Speightstown  out of the Perfect Soul mare Perfect Shirl, who won the 2011 Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T), Shirl's Speight will enter the Derby unraced on dirt and as the race's least experienced entrant.

Owned by his breeder, Charles Fipke, the colt was a first-out winner by eight lengths on turf July 4 at Woodbine, followed by a 2 3/4-length score on the track's synthetic surface July 25 in the Marine Stakes (G3).

"It went quite well," Attfield said of the workout in a video interview distributed on Twitter by Woodbine publicity. "The first half they could have gone a little bit quicker for him, but in general it worked out fine. He got some dirt in his face and some horses around him a little bit because with two races he's never been close to any horses, really. But I mean, if he is going to run a mile and a quarter, he needed to have a fairly decent work at this point, and he will have an easy five-eighths on his own before he leaves, probably. This was quite a reasonably pivotal work, really."

Though he lacks any qualifying points toward the Sept. 5 race at Churchill Downs, he is projected to make the field unless there are new additions to the prospective lineup.

According to a tweet from Fipke Stable, "Regular rider Rafael Hernandez will not be able to ride Shirl's Speight due to pre- and post-Derby quarantine. Corey Lanerie will have the mount."

Other potential Derby starters who breezed Friday included Winning Impression, who worked a half-mile at Churchill Downs in :48 2/5; Art Collector, timed covering the same distance on a synthetic track at Skylight Training Center in :49.10; and Dr Post, who breezed five furlongs in 1:00.75 at Saratoga Race Course with stablemate Money Moves, a colt considered an outside possibility for the Derby.

Trainer Todd Pletcher was pleased by what he saw from Dr Post, a son of Quality Road  who this summer ran third in the TVG.com Haskell Stakes (G1) and second in the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) for Vincent Viola's St. Elias Stable.

"It was a good work for him today. He galloped out well and I was very happy with what I saw out of him," said the trainer, who won the Kentucky Derby with Super Saver  (2010) and Always Dreaming  (2017).

Viola was also a part-owner in Always Dreaming.

Pletcher holds the record for most Kentucky Derby contestants, having saddled 54 contenders dating to 2000. He has also finished second twice and third on four occasions.