Justify Returns to Track, Bravazo Breezes at Churchill
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Photo: Coady Photography
Bravazo works May 31 under Danielle Rosier at Churchill Downs
Dual classic winner Justify returned to the track at Churchill Downs May 31 for a one-mile jog, following his half-mile breeze in :46 4/5 May 29, as he continues training for the Belmont Stakes (G1) June 9 at Belmont Park.
"It was a really good first day back at the track," said assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes. "He was pretty strong out there and full of himself. It was exactly what we wanted to see after his breeze Tuesday."
Trainer Bob Baffert, who was in town for Tuesday's workout, is scheduled to return to Louisville from his Southern California base June 2 or June 3. The 65-year-old conditioner said Tuesday that Justify, who runs for WinStar Farm, China Horse Club, Starlight Racing, and Head of Plains Partners, could possibly breeze June 4.
In other local Belmont Stakes news, Calumet Farm's homebred Bravazo breezed one mile in 1:42 4/5 with exercise rider Danielle Rosier aboard for trainer D. Wayne Lukas. The Preakness Stakes (G1) runner-up worked through eighth-mile splits of :13 1/5, :25 3/5, :38 1/5, :50 3/5, 1:03 2/5, 1:16 3/5, and 1:30, before he completed a gallop out to 1 1/8 miles in 1:58, according to Churchill Downs clocker John Nichols.
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"I was very pleased with the work," Lukas said. "With workouts I'm not really looking at the time but rather how they're doing it. He did everything we asked. You have to be a tough horse to compete in the Triple Crown series, and I think we have a tough horse. He didn't really get a whole lot of fitness from the Louisiana Derby to the Kentucky Derby with the time between races. I think the Derby made him a lot more fit, and that's part of the reason he did so well in the Preakness."
Other locally based Belmont Stakes contenders out for exercise during the exclusive 7:30 a.m. ET training window were Preakness third-place finisher Tenfold, who galloped about 1 1/2 miles with Angel Garcia up for trainer Steve Asmussen, and Breeders' Futurity (G1) winner Free Drop Billy, who galloped about 1 1/2 miles with Juan Segundo in the saddle for Churchill's all-time leading trainer Dale Romans. Baffert's other Belmont hope, Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) third Restoring Hope, jogged one mile at about 6 a.m.