Kentucky Derby Workers Out in Force at Churchill

In the morning hours of April 22 at Churchill Downs, several contenders for the $3 million Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) put in works over a fast track.

A surprise appearance by trainer Bob Baffert at Barn 33 highlighted Kentucky Derby 145 prep activities Monday morning. On his way to Ocala, Fla., for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, Baffert made a stop in Louisville, Ky. to supervise the workout by WinStar Farm, China Horse Club, and Starlight Racing's colt Improbable. 

Improbable, runner-up in the Arkansas Derby (G1) and a division of the Rebel Stakes (G2), worked four furlongs over a fast track in :48 flat with regular exercise rider Jose Contreras up. He posted splits of :11 4/5, :23 2/5, and :35 3/5 and galloped out to five furlongs in 1:01 2/5.

"I haven't seen press like that since Santa Anita closed," Baffert joked as he met a large contingent of the news media. "I picked a beautiful day here. He went really nice. I liked the way he bounced over the track. Everybody is happy with him. 

"I worked him without blinkers," Baffert noted. The colt wore blinkers at Oaklawn Park during his most recent start, the Arkansas Derby, with unwelcome results.

"Did you watch the Arkansas Derby?" Baffert said. "He got a little anxious in there with them, so I don't think we'll put blinkers back on him."

Baffert was pleased to see Improbable recover from those anxious moments in the gate and finish second to Omaha Beach.

"We're just fortunate to be in there, and really fortunate with Improbable, because they could have scratched him in the gate. ... It looked like he was trying to sit down, and that could have been a disaster for him," Baffert said. "He still ran a great race after all that, and I was just thankful that he got in there, and looked unbelievable to finish second.

"For a horse who's just run, and who's shipped twice, he looks great, he looks fantastic. You can't throw him out."

Baffert said it is particularly difficult to find one outstanding favorite for this year's Run for the Roses, unlike last year when he brought eventual Triple Crown winner Justify  in for the Derby.

"It's a tough Derby this year. We're fortunate to have three in there. There's a lot of parity," he said. While Omaha Beach has beaten two of Baffert's three potential Derby starters, Improbable and Game Winner, he pointed out, "He hasn't beaten Roadster. All right, so we've got that going for us. That's my hole card. But you know what? He's a good horse."

Having lost to Omaha Beach, Baffert said he knows what he's up against on the first Saturday in May.

"It's a great story, with Richard Mandella, he's my neighbor there, and I see him every morning, he walks by my barn. And it's just amazing what a good horse does for the soul," Baffert said. "It puts some pep in your step, and it's the time of year, that if you have a horse that has a chance to win the Derby, it's a totally different feeling. You can't wait to get up. It gets you going. That's the beauty of this race. These horses really get you going."

Omaha Beach "is a really good horse," Baffert said. "He must be, since (jockey) Mike Smith went ahead and took him. So he feels pretty good about that. I have a really good relationship with Mike Smith, and we talked a long time. I told him, 'If you want to ride that horse, then go ride him.' I don't want the jockey to ride a horse, if he's out there thinking about another horse. " 

Irad Ortiz Jr. is expected to be aboard Improbable in the Derby. The colt is expected to have one more breeze, probably Sunday, the trainer said.

Baffert, who said he's returning to Louisville April 26, is considering shipping Game Winner and Roadster, who just worked at Santa Anita Park, to Churchill Downs April 24, or Saturday, April 27, when flights from California are available.

Chester Thomas' Allied Racing Stable's By My Standards completed his penultimate work for the Kentucky Derby with a "strong" six-furlong move in 1:12 4/5 with jockey Gabriel Saez aboard.

Trained by Bret Calhoun, Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2) winner By My Standards began his work from the five-furlong pole and breezed through consistent fractions of :12 2/5, :24 2/5, :36 2/5, :48 3/5, and 1:00 1/5 before galloping out seven furlongs in 1:26, according to Churchill Downs clocker John Nichols.

"That was about as good as you can get two weeks out from the race," Calhoun said. "This horse is just hitting his best stride and I think that's what we'll see from him going into the Derby. I put the work off a little bit due to weather but (By My Standards) really showed his stuff this morning. I'm not taking a sigh of relief yet, but I feel really pleased by the way he went this morning."

By My Standards is scheduled to have a walk day April 23 in Barn 23 while Calhoun attends the OBS sale.

Juddmonte Farms' Tacitus, who is in first place by points on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard, put in his first work at Churchill getting a half-mile in :50 under exercise rider Juan Quintero.

Working in company with grade 1-placed Ballagh Rocks, Wood Memorial Presented by NYRA Bets (G2) winner Tacitus produced splits of :13 2/5, :25 4/5, :38 2/5 and galloped out to five furlongs in 1:02 4/5 and six furlongs in 1:15 4/5. 

"It was his first work since the Wood Memorial (G2) and I thought it was very good," trainer Bill Mott said. "He doesn't work fast; he does what his companion does. I thought his gallop out was very good."

Mott, whose first Derby starter came in 1984, will try to win the Run for the Roses for the first time. Hofburg's seventh-place finish last year produced Mott's best result from eight starters.

"You always want to feel like you have a chance, even if you are 20-1," Mott said. "You always think that, and I think that way for him. He is very well bred, has a good race record, and seems to be a horse on the improve."

Tacitus came off a 17-week layoff following his maiden victory to win the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby (G2) and four weeks later won the Wood Memorial.

"He is a big, rangy colt who didn't show his brilliance until later in the summer and the fall," Mott said. "We asked more of him and he responded and did it the right way.

Later in the morning, Willis Horton Racing's Long Range Toddy worked an easy five furlongs in 1:02 3/5 during the exclusive training window for Kentucky Derby and Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) contenders.

Ridden by exercise rider Wilson Fabian, Long Range Toddy worked through fractions of :12 2/5, :25, :37 3/5, and :50 1/5 before a six-furlong gallop out in 1:16 1/5, according to Nichols. He is being supervised by Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen's assistant Scot Blasi. 

This year's Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby invitee, Master Fencer, is scheduled to fly from Japan to Chicago April 23 and spend 42 hours in quarantine. 

Owned by Katsumi and Yasuyo Yoshizawa, and trained by 48-year-old former jockey Koichi Tsunoda, Master Fencer is tentatively scheduled to van to Keeneland April 25 before arriving at Churchill Downs the evening of April 29, according to senior director of the stable area Steve Hargrave. Locally based jockey Julien Leparoux will have the mount in the Derby.

"It's a great opportunity to ride this horse," Leparoux said. "I've been over to Japan to ride before and it was a great experience."

Fox Hill Farm's Omaha Beach galloped about a mile and a half under exercise rider Taylor Cambra for Mandella.

"A little quieter this morning," Mandella said the day after Omaha Beach had a new patch put on a quarter crack and received new shoes. "He had a good gallop with his new shoes and new laces."