Cherry Wine, Brody's Cause Work for Belmont

Trainer Dale Romans invoked the name of Hall of Famer H. Allen Jerkens the morning of May 28, a fitting move considering he had just gone old-school in preparing his pair of Belmont Stakes (gr. I) hopefuls.

Romans worked both multiple grade I winner Brody's Cause and Preakness Stakes (gr. I) runner-up Cherry Wine at Churchill Downs Saturday, declaring each ready to go for the final leg of the Triple Crown June 11.

With assistant Tammy Fox in the irons, Brody's Cause clocked a mile from the seven-eighths pole in 1:42, posting splits of :37 3/5, :49 4/5, 1:02 2/5, and 1:28 4/5, with a gallop out to 1 1/8 miles in 1:56 2/5.

Moments earlier, Cherry Wine showed he bounced out of his classic effort in good form when he was credited with a four-furlong move in 49 3/5, posting splits of :12 3/5 and :37 2/5 with a gallop out to five furlongs in 1:03 flat with exercise rider Faustino Aguilar aboard.

The fact that Romans worked Cherry Wine back a week after his Preakness run is a sign of just how good the trainer is feeling about the son of Paddy O'Prado. And while Brody's Cause is coming off a seventh place finish in the May 7 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), Romans said his confidence hasn't waned where the son of Giant's Causeway is concerned.

"I wanted to have a lot of the heavy lifting done before we got up (to New York)," Romans said of the two works. "Brody was seventh out of 20 (in the Kentucky Derby) and I'm proud of him. I've been training him like he wants to go a mile and a half and trying to teach him to do it. Today's work was spectacular. He went around just as easy as could be at every pole.

"I think he's got a big shot. And Cherry Wine has a big shot too. We don't normally work back that quick, but he's such a good horse and doing so good. The key is you have to teach them to go a mile and a half. That's what Allen Jerkens told me. You have to try and get them mentally ready to be focused for as long as it takes to run a mile and a half."

Cherry Wine is seeking his first graded stakes win from nine starts to date. The run the gray colt put in to finish second in the Preakness behind Exaggerator is one Romans feels could be the catalyst for him getting over that hump sooner rather than later.

While Cherry Wine handled the off going that day with no issue, he also notched a six-length win in an allowance race over a fast Gulfstream Park surface Jan. 9. His late kick has been the colt's bread and butter, but Romans said both of his charges are capable of being closer to the lead in the Belmont should little pace materialize.

"Cherry Wine will run on concrete, he'll run on mud, it doesn't matter," Romans said. "A good horse will run on anything and ... he doesn't have to have a muddy racetrack. I can put them in the lead if there is no speed. It doesn't make any difference. These horses ... they'll take any cue from the jockeys.

"We took Cherry Wine way back (in the Preakness) rolling the dice that those horses would go fast and collapse. I just didn't want to get stuck in fifth and run fifth all the way around there."

Romans said Brody's Cause and Cherry Wine will likely ship to New York May 31 and have their final works at Belmont Park next weekend.

Owned by Albaugh Family Stable, Brody's Cause captured the April 9 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I) at Keeneland prior to his Kentucky Derby outing. The bay colt has won three of seven starts with $1,123,138 in earnings.

Cherry Wine—who ran third in the Blue Grass Stakes—has captured two of nine starts for owners Pacella Racing, Frank Jones Jr., and Frank Shoop, with earnings of $518,878.

"Brody's already proven to be the best of the two so far, because he's beaten (Cherry Wine), but Cherry Wine has taken a step forward," Romans said. "I don't know which one I like the best right now."