'Company' No Issue for El Kabeir in Workout
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On a brisk spring morning at Belmont Park April 25, El Kabeir put in his final breeze for the May 2 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), and it was unexpectedly eventful.
Clockers timed the Scat Daddy colt in :46 4/5 for a half-mile under exercise rider Simon Harris. El Kabeir's splits were :23 2/5 and :23 2/5, with a five-eighths gallop-out time of :58 4/5. It was the third-fastest of 55 works at the distance.
The Zayat Stables-owned colt received unexpected company during the work from Saythreehailmary's, a stake-placed filly who dogged El Kabeir for much of the work on Belmont's main track. El Kabeir's trainer, John Terranova, appeared unfazed when he saw his colt would have company during the work, and simply asked: "Who is that?"
With a stiff wind at El Kabeir's back in the stretch, the horse looked comfortable and well within himself.
"He was cruising," Terranova said as he watched El Kabeir gallop around the clubhouse turn. "We didn't expect to get hooked, but that's OK. He's pretty strong right now and he would have been capable of working that fast on his own. It looked like Simon just let El Kabeir sit alongside that horse and cruise along outside of him."
Harris said the unexpected workmate might even have been for the best.
"It certainly focused my horse," Harris said. "I just pulled out wide when I saw that horse coming because I wanted it on my inside. I was just concentrating more on what I had to do. I basically didn't care about the company. At the eighth-pole, the other horse got tired, and we just kept on going. He's doing great. I'm really happy with him."
El Kabeir will ship by van to Churchill Downs late in the afternoon of April 26 and is expected to arrive early the following morning. Terranova plans to jog the colt and school him in the paddock April 27. He said El Kabeir will school in the gate either Wednesday or Thursday of Derby week.
El Kabeir will be returning to Churchill for the first time since his victory last November in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (gr. II). Since then, he has won the Jerome Stakes and Gotham Stakes (both gr. III) at Aqueduct Racetrack, and in his most recent start finished third in the TwinSpires.com Wood Memorial Stakes (gr. I) at Aqueduct.
In the Kentucky Derby, El Kabeir will be reunited with three-time Kentucky Derby winning jockey Calvin Borel, who rode him in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. Zayat Stables will also be represented by American Pharoah and Mr. Z in the Louisville classic.
When Terranova was asked how he felt about playing the underdog to the Bob Baffert-trained American Pharoah, he said with a laugh: "That's good. The pressure won't be on me. Nobody will be watching us, so we'll just enjoy ourselves.
"It's exciting to go and he deserves to go. I think this horse is going to run really well if he gets a fair trip. So far every time we've led him over there, he has given us a good effort."