Always Dreaming Gets First Feel of Pimlico

Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) winner Always Dreaming got acquainted with the racing surface at Pimlico Race Course May 10 during a light jog in preparation for a scheduled start in the May 20 Preakness Stakes (G1).

Owned by MeB Racing, Brooklyn Boyz, Teresa Viola, St. Elias Stable, Siena Farm, and West Point Thoroughbreds, the Todd Pletcher-trained colt jogged clockwise once around the track under exercise rider Nick Bush and in the company of a pony.

Ginny DePasquale, Pletcher's longtime assistant trainer, supervised the 6:30 a.m. EDT training session on the day after arriving from Churchill Downs.

"He looked good. He was bright, alert, checking things out, jogging with the pony," said DePasquale, who has been employed by the Pletcher stable for 20 years. "He was ready to go. The (rider on the) pony had to hang on to him, because he wanted to do a little more. We're happy with the way he went this morning.

Always Dreaming, who has won all four of his 2017 starts by a combined 23 1/4 lengths, has impressed DePasquale with his post-Derby physical condition.

"The race, I think, took nothing out of him. We're happy. He bounced back almost immediately," she said.

Always Dreaming is scheduled to gallop at 6 a.m. May 11, when Pletcher is expected to be on hand to observe the son of Bodemeister  's  second trip to the Pimlico racetrack.

Jerry and Ann Moss' Royal Mo also made his first visit to the Pimlico track Wednesday morning for some light exercise under exercise rider Taylor Leatherman. They went to the track at 9:30 a.m., jogged three-quarters of a mile clockwise then turned around and galloped about a mile to the wire.

                                                       

The son of Uncle Mo   was on the also-eligible list for the Kentucky Derby, but did not draw into the field for the first race of the Triple Crown series. He flew from Louisville, Ky. to Baltimore Tuesday on the flight carrying Always Dreaming to the Preakness. 

At Churchill Wednesday morning, three horses that chased Always Dreaming to the finish line in last Saturday's first leg of the Triple Crown also returned to the track.

John Oxley's Classic Empire, the morning-line favorite for the Derby who finished fourth, jogged at 6 a.m. under regular exercise rider Martin Rivera. Trained by Mark Casse, the reigning juvenile male champion is scheduled to gallop Thursday and will leave for Baltimore by van May 14 for a run in the Preakness.

Trainer Steve Asmussen also had his two Preakness probable starters out before the break. Calumet Farm's Hence, who finished 11th in the Derby, was first out and was followed a bit later by Derby runner-up Lookin At Lee, owned by L and N Racing. Both colts galloped one mile and are scheduled to breeze May 15 before flying to Baltimore the following day.

 "I've been very pleased with how they came out of the race," Asmussen said. "Very impressed with their energy level and how they're traveling.

 "A lot of credit needs to go to the racing surface, the trackman (Jamie Richardson) and the crew for the job they did under very trying circumstances weather-wise—from what I've read how good everybody has come out of the race. I'm dumbfounded with how well my horses came out of the race considering the circumstances. Horses at this level, under those circumstances, the track deserves some credit. As worried about it as we were, and we come out of the race with so much horse—amazing. Considering how fast they go, what time of year it is and circumstances they ran on, the racetrack deserves a lot of credit. It was not ideal, and everybody is happy with their horses' condition."

Asmussen said repeatedly after the Kentucky Derby's post-position draw that, as unproductive as the post 1 has been in the race the past several years, Lookin At Lee was the sort of horse that could handle it. Under skillful direction from jockey Corey Lanerie, Lookin At Lee became the first horse to break from post 1 and finish in the top three since Risen Star was third in 1988.

 

"You know the statistics from the one hole, and you've watched the race and how troubling the crowding can be or whatever," Asmussen said. "I did not consider the lack of room for the horse individually in the paddock to saddle—just as much as covering him up in front (in the race). You had to move people out just to get him in it (the stall) to saddle. That was a bit surprising. But Lookin At Lee was the perfect horse for it. He hung out there, waited his turn and was ready to go when they called upon him.

 

"On normal days, you don't saddle (the No. 1 horse) until about three or four stalls down. The outriders' horses are in the first few spots. You're down a ways. You don't use all 20 stalls except for the Derby. But the one hole for the Derby, with the (paddock) gate right there and the amount of people, the celebrity making the 'riders up' call and all the camera crews are directly in front of the horse in the one. It takes a good personality—Lookin At Lee's temperament—for that not to alarm them a bit."

 

Peacock Racing Stables' Gunnevera went to the track shortly before 9 a.m. with exercise rider Victor O'Farrell aboard. The colt backtracked alongside a pony to the starting gate, turned around and jogged to the five-eighths pole before galloping an easy mile.

 

Gunnevera, who returned to the track Tuesday morning for the first since his seventh-place Derby finish, is scheduled to leave by van for Pimlico early May 13.

In other Preakness news, trainer Brendan Walsh confirmed Joel Rosario will ride Illinois Derby (G3) winner Multiplier in the Preakness. In his stakes debut, the son of The Factor   won the 1 1/8-mile Illinois Derby by a head over Hedge Fund.