Barbaro Updates: 277
updates are here.
Update 1875: I just spent a pleasant afternoon hanging out with Mike Rea at Freedom Hills. A lovely afternoon to go for a trail ride, and I really believe Mike is showing more progress.
Here is today's Preakness release:
BALTIMORE, MD. 05-10-07---For the first time since last Saturday's Run for the Roses, trainer Steve Asmussen confirmed in an NTRA Teleconference that Curlin, the Kentucky Derby morning line favorite and third place finisher, will start in the Preakness Stakes. With his announcement, the 1-2-3 finishers from the Kentucky Derby along with seven possible new shooters, will line-up at Pimlico to run in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown.
Asmussen said, "We do plan on running him in the Preakness. The only hesitation was waiting for him to go back to the track. Heading off of his first defeat, I was very curious were he would be mentally. You would expect them to be nervous, in little things but he's not shown any indication of that. His appetite has stayed good. He's a big strong horse. Very pleased with how he came out of the race physically and very relaxed going onto the track. Just wanted to make sure it was still him.
"The Derby is an experience like no other. Not only do you have to be good enough, you have to be very fortunate. I think the race Street Sense ran was worthy of a Derby victory and the race Hard Spun ran was worthy of being second. When you look at the race after the fact you beat seventeen of the best three-year-olds in the country at one time. We just didn't beat the other two."
Asmussen also confirmed that jockey Robby Albarado will retain the mount on Curlin.
At Churchill Downs, Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense galloped a mile and a quarter. The Carl Nafzger trainee will work Tuesday and ship into Pimlico on the second flight out of Louisville Wednesday morning. The son of Street Cry will be stabled in Stall 40 of the stakes barn, which is reserved for the Derby winner.
"He'll walk tomorrow and we'll go from there," said Nafzger about his training plans leading up to the Preakness. "Once we get to Pimlico he'll walk Thursday and gallop on the track Friday morning."
Hard Spun continues to rebound from his stellar Derby performance at his home at Delaware Park. Trainer Larry Jones said, "I couldn't be more pleased. He jogged three-eighths of a mile and galloped a mile and a quarter. He's very happy and relaxed right now. It's amazing. This horse ran a mile and a quarter, rode ten hours in a van and now we're in the vicinity of Baltimore and he's doing this well, this early. It's very encouraging. I wouldn't have expected him to be back to this stage until next Monday or Tuesday."
Trainer Todd Pletcher has named John Velazquez to ride King of the Roxy in the Preakness. King of the Roxy has made seven lifetime starts and Velazquez has ridden him twice, to a second place finish in the Saratoga Special and to victory in the Futurity at Belmont Park.
Word from the Fair Hill Training Center continues to be upbeat on the status of Federico Tesio Stakes winner Xchanger. Trainer Mark Shuman said, "He's doing super. He galloped a mile and three-quarters this morning. He's really getting sharp. This horse couldn't be doing better right now. Hopefully today, we'll have a better idea of who will be riding him. It's really become a day to day thing now."
Trainer Jamie Sanders told staffers in the Pimlico racing office that Teuflesberg will van from Churchill Downs Saturday, accompanied by four other horses pointing to added-money events on Preakness weekend.
Bowie-based Mint Slewlep will add the finishing touches to his Preakness preparations when he ships to Pimlico this weekend. Trainer Robbie Bailes said, "Everything is going very well. He jogged two miles this morning. Our plans are to get him into Pimlico very early Sunday morning and train over the track and give him a chance to get familiar with his surroundings. We haven't made a decision on a rider, but that should happen within the next two days."
Hall of Fame conditioner D. Wayne Lukas will start either Derby Trial winner Flying First Class and/or Starbase, second in the Lexington Stakes.
Others considering the Preakness are Withers runner-up C P West, from the Nick Zito barn, and the Michael Matz trained Chelokee, who finished third in the Florida Derby.
Sedgefield, who finished a surprising fifth in the Run For The Roses, has been dropped from consideration from next Saturday's headliner according to Daily Racing Form.
Update 1874: Congratulations to Ramon Dominguez for passing the 3,000 winner career mark: Dominguez gets 3,000th career victory.
Don't forget, Dr. Richardson is on Talkin' Horses today at 2 pm.
Update 1873: Another nice quiet morning for me at Fair Hill, with three to ride. It was a little foggy and muggy, but with recent memories of winter (and a short morning) I was not complaining. First was Grandma. She went to the Tapeta track and galloped a mile and a half. Tim was with us on Mediman. Grandma was a little wound up before she galloped, but settled down nicely in her gallop and walked home very quietly. Second set was Nautical Agent, she galloped a mile and a quarter on the Tapeta, Tim was on Who's Happy, doing the same thing. Both went well. Finally I took Gator Nation across the fields with Tim on Nonpariel. We had a nice hack around the outside of the (2 mile) field, and both were very relaxed. We met another set of horses coming the other way around the field, but no wildlife! Finally I did a short interview with WGAL Channel 8 (NBC), it should air either next wednesday or thursday. It seems they are at Fair Hill all morning, and were at New Bolton Center yesterday. I was being asked about this website and the Fans of Barbaro phenomena, of course I can talk about that all day!
Update 1872: Mike Jensen writes about Chelokee's (not yet determined) near term plan, and also notes Hard Spun is back galloping at Delaware Park: Matz might run Chelokee in Barbaro Stakes, excerpt:
"He'll gallop every day," said Jones, who isn't planning on breezing Hard Spun before the Preakness. "We'll plan on going out there every morning. I actually did a little more with him than I intended to when I went out there because he just felt like he wanted to do a little more. We jogged a half-mile, galloped a mile. Everything went well."
Over at Fair Hill, a few miles away, Matz said he would be watching his horse carefully over the coming days.
"My horse has been taking little steps forward all the time, and I want to keep him that way," Matz said. "And it's a long year and there are some big races coming up. I don't know if he's as good as those first three [Derby] horses. But I don't know that he isn't."
I ran into Mike Jensen last night, attending Dr. Richardson's lecture. It was a great event. Dr. Richardson, a man who is clearly at the very top of his profession, still carries guilt that comes along with failing to save Barbaro, it was evident throughout the evening. His presentation was very interesting and provided some back content that helped me understand a little more some of the "behind the scenes" work that went on throughout the months (pool recovery process etc). Dr. Richardson entertained many questions with ease. We were also able to make a couple of presentations. I presented some cheques from Delaware Park from the Laminitis Fund drive, and Jessica presented the artwork created by Anna (and cheque): Update #4 Dr. R's Artwork Gift. All in all a great evening, meeting and seeing again some wonderful FOBs!
Good morning!
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Posted by: Christian at May 10, 2007 11:37 AM