Keen Ice, Tale of Verve Breeze at Churchill

Donegal Racing's Keen Ice returned to the Churchill Downs work tab Sept. 19, breezing for the first time since upsetting Triple Crown winner American Pharoah at odds of 16-1 in the Aug. 29 Travers Stakes (gr. I). The homebred son of Curlin   worked a half-mile in :51 1/5 for trainer Dale Romans.

"It looked like he felt real good," Romans said. "He just kind of stretched his legs a little bit. We have a lot of time between now and the Breeders' Cup (Classic [gr. I])."

Keen Ice will train up to the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic on Oct. 31 at Keeneland. The Travers was his first graded stakes score and first trip to the winner's circle since last September when he broke his maiden at Churchill as a 2-year-old. Prior to winning the Travers, he racked up a handful of on-the-board efforts, including a second behind American Pharoah in the William Hill Haskell Invitational (gr. I) and a third in the Belmont Stakes Presented by DraftKings (gr. I).

"He has just always seemed like a horse with a lot of talent," Romans said. "He's really figured out how to run. He's developed and matured a lot mentally, and (jockey) Kent (Desormeaux) helped with that and helped him switch leads a bit better. The horse has really developed his own confidence."

Desormeaux was aboard Keen Ice in the Haskell and Belmont, and for a seventh in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I). Javier Castellano was the pilot for his Travers victory.

Also on Saturday morning's worktab was Charles E. Fipke's Tale of Verve, who went five furlongs in 1:01 2/5 for trainer Dallas Stewart. The son of Tale of Ekati   remains on track for the $400,000 Oklahoma Derby (gr. III) on Sept. 27 at Remington Park. Jockey Jamie Theriot, who was aboard for Saturday's breeze, has the mount in next week's race.

Tale of Verve is coming off a string of three unplaced efforts in the Travers, West Virginia Derby (gr. II) and Belmont. Stewart blamed the disappointing efforts in the Belmont and Travers on, what he perceived to be, heavy tracks.

"I think he ran well in West Virginia, he just ran out of ground," Stewart said. "(Gary) Stevens rode him twice (Belmont and Travers), and both of those tracks are really heavy. He told me that he couldn't pick his feet up on those sandy tracks up there. But he's been training really well at Churchill. I thought he worked great (Saturday morning) and hopefully he'll get along with the track at Remington. We'll see how it plays out."