Monday, April 9, 2007
Hard Spun, the fast-finishing winner of Turfway Park?s Grade II Lane?s End Stakes, is officially out of Saturday?s Grade I Toyota Blue Grass at Keeneland.
But that doesn?t mean he?s out of the May 5 Kentucky Derby. That hinges on a workout at Churchill Downs that will be Thursday at the earliest. Trainer Larry Jones says he wants to make sure Hard Spun handles the Louisville surface. If the colt shows the same signs of struggling that he did at Oaklawn Park, Jones said there is no point attempting the Derby.
?Sunday after the Derby, you?re going to be reading where 10 trainers say their horse didn?t handle the track,? Jones said Monday. ?We don?t want to be one of those?. If we have to pass the Derby, we just have to pass it.?
Cold weather has delayed the workout scheduled for Tuesday at Churchill for the 5-for-6 colt, who has been training at Keeneland. Jones wants to work Hard Spun when the weather has warmed and the track can be watered, so it more closely approximates what it will be like for racing.
Jones? concern about Churchill is that it might be similar to Oaklawn, where Hard Spun struggled in training and lost for the only time in the Southwest.
?Both (tracks) have a tendency at time to be a little ?cuppy,?? he said, referring to a surface that can be loose and break away under horses? feet. ?? I don?t know what it was about Oaklawn, but I know it was cuppy.?
However, with stablemate Circular Quay skipping the Wood Memorial to train up to the Derby, Any Given Saturday wound up in that New York prep Saturday, finishing third. Even with the two notable defections, the Blue Grass remains a formidable prep. Other probables are Louisiana Derby third-place finisher Zanjero, Turfway?s Rushaway winner Dominican, Southwest winner Teuflesberg and Belgravia.
If Hard Spun does not take to the Churchill surface, Jones plans to use Keeneland?s Grade II Coolmore Lexington on April 21 as a launching pad for the Preakness Stakes.
Hard Spun, the fast-finishing winner of Turfway Park?s Grade II Lane?s End Stakes, is officially out of Saturday?s Grade I Toyota Blue Grass at Keeneland.
But that doesn?t mean he?s out of the May 5 Kentucky Derby. That hinges on a workout at Churchill Downs that will be Thursday at the earliest. Trainer Larry Jones says he wants to make sure Hard Spun handles the Louisville surface. If the colt shows the same signs of struggling that he did at Oaklawn Park, Jones said there is no point attempting the Derby.
?Sunday after the Derby, you?re going to be reading where 10 trainers say their horse didn?t handle the track,? Jones said Monday. ?We don?t want to be one of those?. If we have to pass the Derby, we just have to pass it.?
Cold weather has delayed the workout scheduled for Tuesday at Churchill for the 5-for-6 colt, who has been training at Keeneland. Jones wants to work Hard Spun when the weather has warmed and the track can be watered, so it more closely approximates what it will be like for racing.
Jones? concern about Churchill is that it might be similar to Oaklawn, where Hard Spun struggled in training and lost for the only time in the Southwest.
?Both (tracks) have a tendency at time to be a little ?cuppy,?? he said, referring to a surface that can be loose and break away under horses? feet. ?? I don?t know what it was about Oaklawn, but I know it was cuppy.?
However, with stablemate Circular Quay skipping the Wood Memorial to train up to the Derby, Any Given Saturday wound up in that New York prep Saturday, finishing third. Even with the two notable defections, the Blue Grass remains a formidable prep. Other probables are Louisiana Derby third-place finisher Zanjero, Turfway?s Rushaway winner Dominican, Southwest winner Teuflesberg and Belgravia.
If Hard Spun does not take to the Churchill surface, Jones plans to use Keeneland?s Grade II Coolmore Lexington on April 21 as a launching pad for the Preakness Stakes.
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