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5.5.2001
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Photo By: Jeremy Lyverse
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The search has ended for a Kentucky Derby (GI) rider for
Sam and Jeri Knighton's Request For Parole, as Churchill Downs-based jockey
Robby Albarado (above) was named by trainer Steve Margolis on Apr. 20 to ride the
colt in the May 4 "Run for the Roses". "He's at the top of the Churchill Downs standings every meet
and having a guy like him is certainly going to help," Request For Parole's trainer, Steve margolis said.< |
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Albarado To Ride Request For Parole In Derby
April 20, 2002
By Kentucky Derby Barn Notes Team
Kentucky Derby Headlines:
CAME HOME - Toffan, McCaffery, Goodman and Farish's Came Home, winner of
the Santa Anita Derby (GI), got his first taste of the Churchill Downs
track in a Saturday gallop over a "sloppy" surface under exercise rider
Sal Gonzalez, Sr., the brother of trainer Paco Gonzalez. The colt
galloped just after the mid-morning break for track maintenance.
The Gone West colt arrived at Churchill Downs on Friday (April 19) and is
stabled in the barn of trainer Neil Howard.
Came Home is scheduled to breeze on Wednesday, April 24.
EASY GRADES - Desparado Stables' Easy Grades galloped after the
renovation break with exercise rider Cindy Lerille up.
Ted West Sr., overseeing preparations of Easy Grades for his son
Ted H> West, said Easy Grades is scheduled to work seven furlongs Monday (April 22)
with Derby rider Jorge Chavez possibly being up for the work.
Ted West Jr. will be in for the work and remain here through the
Derby.
"This is what we did for the Breeders' Cup in 1999 at Gulfstream
with Budroyale," West Sr. said. "We stayed the first week, and then Ted
came in for the last two and that worked out pretty well. My wife and I
will go back to California after the work and then come back for the
race."
Budroyale ran second in the Classic that year.
West Sr. is back at Churchill for the first time since 1988.
"The only other time I was here was for the Breeders' Cup in
1988 with Stocks Up in the Juvenile Fillies (in which she finished
ninth)," West Sr. said.
ESSENCE OF DUBAI - Godolphin Racing's Essence Of Dubai paid his first
visit to the main track at Churchill Downs with a light jog under a
steady shower with exercise rider Lee Roebuck up.
Tom Albertrani, assistant to trainer Saeed bin Suroor, said
Essence Of Dubai would have two works here prior to his engagement in
the 128th Kentucky Derby.
Essence Of Dubai, along with Godolphin's two Kentucky Oaks
hopefuls Tempera and Imperial Gesture, arrived at Churchill Downs on
Friday after spending two days at Keeneland's quarantine facility upon
arrival from Dubai.
Albertrani said the fillies would have one work prior to the
Oaks. Both fillies jogged Saturday morning with Roebuck on Imperial
Gesture and Rachel Dore on Tempera.
HARLAN'S HOLIDAY - Toyota Blue Grass (GI) and Florida Derby (GI)
favorite Harlan's Holiday galloped on a "sloppy" track at Churchill
Downs on Saturday (April 20). The Harlan colt went to the track after the
mid-session break for track maintenance and just a few minutes after a
downpour left plenty of water on the surface.
The Ohio-bred star moved much better than his trainer, Ken
McPeek, who suffered a broken left ankle in a pick-up basketball game on
Thursday evening. The ankle is outfitted in a removable cast and McPeek
walked with the aid of crutches.
"I broke the fifth metatarsal bone," said McPeek. "I have to
wear the cast all day, although I can take it off to shower. If the bone
doesn't heal within 10 weeks, he may put a pin in it, but he said the
chances of that were not real high."
While the injury is an obvious annoyance just two weeks before
he is scheduled to saddle Take Charge Lady in the Kentucky Oaks and
Harlan's Holiday in the Derby, McPeek refused to complain about it.
"I've had so much good luck this year, what's this?" he said.
"Business-wise we've had nothing but good luck."
The next work for Harlan's Holiday is scheduled on Wednesday,
April 24.
IT'SALLINTHECHASE - Darwin Olson's It'sallinthechase jogged a mile under
exercise rider Joe Higgins.
Trainer Wilson Brown is expected to arrive in Louisville next
Saturday night with a work scheduled for Sunday, April 28.
Lusty Latin - Joey and Wendy Platts' Lusty Latin, who arrived at
Churchill Downs from California on Friday, galloped a mile after the
renovation break under Amy Mullins, wife of trainer Jeff Mullins.
Stabled in Barn 37 with Mike Puype's string of horses, Lusty
Latin is scheduled to breeze Monday (April 22), and Jeff Mullins will be here for
the work.
MEDAGLIA D'ORO - Edmund Gann's Medaglia d'Oro galloped Saturday (April 20) morning
with assistant trainer Jose Cuevas up. Trainer Bobby Frankel was in
California.
Gann's Oaks hopeful, You, jogged with Cuevas up.
Ocean Sound - Ocean Sound galloped through a heavy downpour Saturday
morning with exercise rider Adam Kitchingman up.
Trainer James Cassidy, who saddled Jamaican Rum in last year's
Kentucky Derby, is expected to arrive in Louisville Tuesday with a
mid-week work planned.
PERFECT DRIFT - Trainer Murray Johnson reported that Lane's End Spiral
(GII) Stakes winner Perfect Drift came out of his Friday work at the
Trackside Training Center "in great shape."
Perfect Drift worked six furlongs in 1:13.60 with Joe Deegan up.
Johnson said Perfect Drift would work again Wednesday (April 24) and would
have his one paddock schooling session at Churchill Downs on opening
day (April 27).
Private Emblem/WINDWARD PASSAGE - Trainer Steve Asmussen's two Kentucky
Derby hopefuls galloped a mile and a half and, according to assistant
trainer Scott Blasi, both colts will work Monday (April 22).
Blasi was on Windward Passage on Saturday (April 20) morning, while Lisa
Orn galloped Private Emblem.
REQUEST FOR PAROLE - The search has ended for a Kentucky Derby rider for
Sam and Jeri Knighton's Request For Parole as Churchill Downs-based
Robby Albarado has been named by trainer Steve Margolis to ride the
colt.
Request For Parole was ridden by Pat Day in his third-place
finish in the Lane's End Spiral (GII) at Turfway Park, but the mount
came open when Day opted to remain on Wood Memorial (GI) winner Buddha
for Derby 128.
"The other rider we were considering was Mike Smith, but we felt
that by getting Robby he would be able to work the horse before the race
and he certainly knows Churchill Downs as good as any of them," said
Margolis. "He's at the top of the Churchill Downs standings every meet
and having a guy like him is certainly going to help."
Albarado, 28, also had one more advantage with Margolis and the
Knightons.
"The fact that he won on the owners' horse yesterday kind of put
the icing on the cake," said Margolis.
That winner was the Knightons' Saints Cup, who romped to a sharp
victory in a six-furlong allowance race at Keeneland. The son of Saint
Ballado is now unbeaten in two races - but Friday's race was his first
since a 9 ¾-length maiden win at Saratoga on Aug. 28, 1999. Injury
problems and legal action of the sale of Saints Cup had kept the
5-year-old on the sidelines for more than 2 ½ years - which should ease
the concerns of those who wonder if Margolis can have Request For Parole
ready despite a six-week gap between the Lane's End Spiral (GII) and the
Kentucky Derby.
"We were kind of crossing our fingers hoping he would be half
the horse he was," Margolis said. "I didn't really push him in the
mornings because we wanted to get him back to the races and he's been
fine. I haven't had a problem with him. He ran a big race and we're
really excited."
Saints Cup had been away from competition because of what
Margolis described as a "lesion" on his left front tendon. His
successful return to competition continued a remarkable run of success
for Margolis, who is in just his second year as a public trainer, and
the Knightons, who live in Elmhurst, Ill. and are relative newcomers to
racing.
"There's not many guys who get that lucky that quick," said
Margolis.
Request For Parole is scheduled to have one more work before the
Kentucky Derby. He said that move would come on Thursday (April 25) or Friday (April 26).
The colt galloped a mile and an eighth with regular exercise
rider Loren Diego up early Saturday (April 20) morning and before the heavy rain
hit the track.
SUNDAY BREAK/FLYING DASH - Trainer Neil Drysdale, whose often
unconventional training style has confounded many a clocker and observer
through the years, said that Koji Maeda's Kentucky Derby contender
Sunday Break (Jpn) actually had his first work at Churchill Downs on Friday (April 19).
"He went three-eighths in :40 or something, just cruising," said
Drysdale, who said the colt could have two more breezes before the May 4
Derby.
Drysdale said that Fusao Sekiguchi's Flying Dash (Ger) would run in
the $100,000-added Derby Trial (GIII) on April 27 at Churchill Downs.
If he runs well there, the German-bred colt would be pointed toward the
Kentucky Derby the following week.
The Kentucky Derby status of both Sunday Break (Jpn) and Flying Dash (Ger)
is in question because neither colt has earned enough money in graded
stakes races at this point to put them in a maximum Derby field of 20
horses. When there is an overflow field for the Derby, preference is
given to entrants with the highest total of earnings in graded stakes.
At the moment, the cutoff point in terms of those earnings for this
year's field appears to be around $100,000. Sunday Break (Jpn) has earned
$82,500 and Flying Dash (Ger) has collected $57,370 - although his total could
climb with a big effort in the Derby Trial. So it's clear that there
will need to be some defections from the Derby picture prior to the
taking of entries on May 1 for Drysdale's horses to get an opportunity
to run.
"If it happens, it happens," said Drysdale. "There seems to
always be some horses drop out as the race draws near."
WAR EMBLEM - Trainer Bob Baffert is still looking for a rider for The
Thoroughbred Corp's War Emblem, winner of the Illinois Derby (GI). The Our Emblem colt is doing well after a five-furlong breeze on Thursday
and Baffert said War Emblem would work again at midweek.
Meanwhile, Baffert said The Thoroughbred Corp's injured Officer
would return to California on Wednesday (April 24). The colt was scratched from
today's Coolmore Lexington Stakes (GII) at Keeneland after a soft tissue
injury was detected in the colt's left front leg. Baffert said that
Officer would be given 90 days off.
Wild Horses - Trainer Todd Pletcher informed Churchill Downs officials
that Peachtree Stables' Arkansas Derby (GII) runner-up Wild Horses would
arrive at the track on Saturday (April 20) afternoon to continue his preparation
for the Kentucky Derby.
In Oaks News....
BELLA BELLUCCI - Michael Tabor's Bella Bellucci, winner of the Comely
(GIII) at Aqueduct in her most recent outing, breezed four furlongs over
a "fast" track in :47.60, the third fastest of 33 at the distance.
Exercise rider Marcelino Olguin was aboard for the work, which
occurred just after the track opened at 5:45 a.m. (EDT) and well before
morning rains left the surface sloppy.
The Neil Drysdale-trained daughter of French Deputy galloped out
five furlongs in 1:00.
"She went well," said Drysdale.
Bella Bellucci completed her juvenile campaign with a
third-place finish behind Tempera and Imperial Gesture in the Breeders'
Cup Juvenile Fillies (GI). Drysdale gave her a long break over the
winter and she returned to competition on March 24 with a win in the 6
½-furlong Santa Paula at Santa Anita. She followed that effort with a
dominating win in the Comely (GIII) last Sunday (April 14) at Aqueduct.
"She was growing, so we stopped her and turned her out," he
said. "She's doing well now. So far, so good."
Bella Bellucci also won the Astarita Breeders' Cup (GII) last
fall at Belmont Park and has a career record of 4-0-1 in five races.
BELTERRA/TAKE THE CAKE - Trainer Carl Nafzger's two Kentucky Oaks
contenders, Robert Manfuso's Golden Rod (GIII) winner Belterra and
Elizabeth Valando's Ashland (GI) runner-up Take The Cake, galloped over
a "sloppy" track.
Both fillies are expected to work sometime next week.
MS BROOKSKI/CHAMROUSSE - Trainer Niall O'Callaghan's pair of Oaks
contenders, Gary Tanaka's Bonnie Miss (GI) winner Ms Brookski and Arthur
Hancock III and James Stone's Fantasy runner-up Chamrousse, were out for
a gallop over the "sloppy" surface near the end of training hours.
O'Callaghan was unsure of when those horses would breeze.
"Ms Brookski could go around the middle of the week," said
O'Callaghan. "The other filly just ran, so we'd wait a few more days
with her."
TAKE CHARGE LADY - Trainer Ken McPeek reported that Select Stable's
Ashland (GI) winner came out of a Friday (April 19) breeze in good shape. "She's
doing great," said McPeek. The daughter of Dehere will have one more
work before the May 3 Kentucky Oaks (gi).
Churchill Downs Work Tab (Track: FAST) - Congaree, third in the 2001 Kentucky Derby,
breezed five furlongs in 1:00. Trainer Bob Baffert said the colt could
be pointed toward the $750,000-added Stephen Foster Handicap (GI). The
move was the best of 21 at the distance...2000 Travers (GI) winner
Unshaded breezed four furlongs in :49.40...Quick Tip breezed four
furlongs in :49 after the morning rains...Regret (GIII) winner Casual
Feat breezed four furlongs in :47.40...Freefourracing breezed four
furlongs in :50.40...Open Story, a dead-heat winner of last year's Three
Chimneys Juvenile, breezed four furlongs in :49.20...Wadsworth breezed
four furlongs in :50.
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