U S S Tinosa Delays Travel Plans; Straight Gin Breezes
April 27, 2002
By Derby Notes Team

Kentucky Derby Headlines

• U S S Tinosa delays shipping until Tuesday
  
• Straight Gin breezes five furlongs
  
• Four Derby contenders to work Sunday

The chestnut son of French Deputy has three wins and just under $300,000 in earnings for his stable, which is the nom de course for New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.

"I'll probably work him five-eighths Monday or Tuesday," Mott said. "He's doing good and all's fine so far."

California rider Corey Nakatani will have the Derby mount on Blue Burner, but Mott said he hadn't made any plans for the rider to come to Louisville for the pre-race drill.

BUDDHA - Trainer H. James Bond reported from his Belmont Park headquarters that his gray flash would drill tomorrow morning at the big New York oval, then catch a plane Monday evening and arrive at Churchill Downs Tuesday morning.

"I'm going to work him Sunday morning," the conditioner said. "We've got a situation with a bit of weather here, so I'm not sure right now just how far he'll go. I'd like to work him three-quarters (of a mile), but the weather will help me decide that. We'll work though, weather or not. I'm 99% sure we'll go." Bond indicated regular exercise rider Fiona Goodwin would be aboard for the exercise.

Bond will ship the Unbridled's Song colt with three of his stablemates and the foursome will take up residence in Barn 48 on trainer Tony Reinstedler's shedrow. Buddha was a game winner of the Wood Memorial April 13 in his most recent effort.

"He's doing well," Bond said. "Things are excellent."

CAME HOME - California hopeful Came Home, unbeaten in three stakes starts as a three-year-old, including victory in the Santa Anita Derby (GI), schooled at the gate this morning and galloped a mile and one-half for trainer Paco Gonzalez.

Came Home, a talented son of Gone West, had a new morning pilot this morning as Fernando Mera, an employee of trainer Neil Howard, in whose barn the colt is stabled, took over for the trainer's brother, Sal Gonzalez, Sr who had been galloping the horse.

"Sal told me the horse was starting to pull pretty good in the morning and getting tough and maybe he needed someone a little stronger to keep him under control," said the conditioner. "At Santa Anita, I would wait until the track was pretty clear of horses before sending him out to gallop and he would relax. There are more horses here and more traffic and he gets competitive and wants to go."

Gonzalez said he is considering taking Came Home to the track earlier on Sunday, possibly at 6:15 when there is less traffic. "It depends on the weather." Gonzalez said the colt acquitted himself well at the gate this morning. "He just walked through a couple of times and was good. This is a new place and I just wanted to get him familiar with things."

Came Home is slated to breeze Monday with his Derby rider, Chris McCarron, aboard again, probably five eighths. McCarron worked Came Home six furlongs in 1:12 3/5 last Tuesday, April 23.

Mera, who galloped Came Home today, described the colt as being "like a Cadillac to handle. He got to the track, took a deep breath and relaxed and just looked around."

EASY GRADES - Desperado Stables' Easy Grades had a gallop of a mile and three quarters Saturday morning shortly after the renovation break with exercise rider Cindy Lerille attached. The Honor Grades gelding, second-place finisher in the Santa Anita Derby April 6, also got a tour of the Churchill paddock as part of his exercises.

Trainer Ted H. West said his charge will have his final major prep Sunday morning. "He'll go three quarters (of a mile) right after the break," West said. "Jorge Chavez (his Derby rider) will be on board.

"I know we're supposed to get rained on and I'm not sure how that's going to affect the track tomorrow. This track has a reputation of being good that way, though. He (Easy Grades) has never had to deal with an 'off' track, so we'll see how that works out."

ESSENCE OF DUBAI - Godolphin Racing's Essence Of Dubai returned to the track Saturday morning at 6:45 to gallop a mile and a quarter under exercise rider Lee Roebuck.

The Pulpit colt had walked Friday after working seven furlongs in 1:28.40 on Thursday morning with Roebuck up. The UAE Derby winner is scheduled to work five furlongs Tuesday or Wednesday. David Flores will ride in the Derby.

Essence Of Dubai has won four of six career starts, and his only off the board finish came in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (GI) last fall at Belmont Park.

"From what I could see, he might have been up a little too close early on and kind of used himself up," said Tom Albertrani, assistant to trainer Saeed bin Suroor.

"As far as I know, there were no excuses after the race or any problems. He came out of the race good. I think that may have been the only reason, just being too close too soon. Maybe it took him out of his natural rhythm of running. Sometimes that will do that.

"Hopefully we are just sitting off the leaders, and if he runs the way he did in Dubai, he'll pick them up and hopefully it's just a matter of if he is good enough."

Albertrani said Essence Of Dubai is on the same schedule Street Cry was last spring before he got hurt here and did not make the Derby.

"Eoin Harty kept him in training out in California after the Breeders' Cup and then he came to Dubai," Albertrani said. "Once we took the horses from the Breeders' Cup, they stayed right in training. We gave them a couple days off just to get over the flight, and then took them right back to the track just doing light exercise and get them back into their routine."

HARLAN'S HOLIDAY - Starlight Stable's Harlan's Holiday was on the track at 6:30 a.m.to jog a mile and then gallop a mile and three-eighths under exercise rider Helen Pitts.

The Florida Derby (GI) and Blue Grass Stakes (GI) winner is scheduled to work a half-mile Tuesday morning after the break with Derby rider Edgar Prado expected to be up for the move.

Harlan's Holiday will mark the third Kentucky Derby starter for trainer Ken McPeek. He saddled Tejano Run to a second-place finish behind Thunder Gulch in 1995, and Deputy Warlock ran 10th in 2000 behind Fusaichi Pegasus.

"Tejano Run was really a hard horse to train, because he had a lot of physical ailments," McPeek said. "I had to tiptoe around a lot of little stuff, but not with this horse.

"This has been a lot easier, very easy. A lot can happen, but I don't think I am getting shaken up about the race this year. We are going to get him ready; lead him over; run him and come home."

IT'SALLINTHECHASE - The bay colt with the most experience in the likely Kentucky Derby lineup had a relatively quiet morning at Churchill Downs Saturday, touring the paddock, standing in the starting gate and galloping a mile and three-sixteenths. Regular exercise rider Joe Higgins was aboard the son of the Kentucky stallion Take Me Out for his morning duties starting at 7:15 and reported all went well.

"I've shipped this horse all over the place to run and he never gets excited," said trainer Wilson Brown. "I might get a little shook up, but he just rolls with it. 'Let's go, boss' he says and then he just eases into it."

It'sallinthechase has 14 starts total - nine as a 2-year-old and five this year.

Brown, an Oklahoman who favors cowboy hats, said his charge will work five eighths of a mile Sunday morning just after the maintenance break. Eddie Martin, Jr., the leading rider at New Orleans' Fair Grounds this winter, will come in for the drill.

"This will be the first time Eddie has been on him," Brown said of his Derby rider. "But I ran him four times in New Orleans and Eddie watched him run. He's got a feel for him and I think that'll help."

Lusty Latin - Joey and Wendy Platts' Lusty Latin jogged before the renovation break with exercise rider Amy Mullins up.

Trainer Jeff Mullins is due back in Louisville late Sunday night after running a horse at Hollywood Park that afternoon. A half-mile work is scheduled for Monday morning.

Glenn Corbett has the call for the Derby.

MEDAGLIA D'ORO - The tall, dark colt Medaglia d'Oro jogged somewhere between a mile and three eighths and a mile and one-half Saturday morning following the break under exercise rider Jose Cuevas as Hall of Fame trainer Robert Frankel looked on from the Churchill Downs three-quarter gap.

The San Felipe winner and Wood Memorial runner-up "is doing great," according to his conditioner, who comes off an Eclipse Award-winning season, but who usually isn't a major player on the Derby scene.

"I'll work him Monday," Frankel said of the El Prado colt he purchased privately in February for his long-time client Edmund Gann of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. "We'll go either five or six (furlongs). We'll see. We ought to be all right with the weather by Monday. But if not - if the track's too bad - I wouldn't be afraid to work him on the turf course if they'd let me."

Frankel will team up with another Hall of Famer, rider Laffit Pincay, Jr., for their run at the Run for the Roses. There won't be a combo with more racing experience than those two in this 128th edition of America's most famous race.

Ocean Sound (Ire) - Irish-bred Ocean Sound, who earned his spot in the 128th Kentucky Derby with a third in the Santa Anita Derby, galloped a mile and one-half today under Adam Kitchingman.

Trainer Jim Cassidy will be in Sunday night and on the scene Monday morning, according to Ocean Sound's (Ire) groom, John Flakes. The colt, a son of Mujadil owned by KM Stable, Jim Ford and Deron Pearson, is scheduled to breeze Wednesday. Alex Solis has the mount.

PERFECT DRIFT - Stonecrest Farm's Perfect Drift galloped two miles under Joe Deegan Saturday morning at the Trackside Training Center.

"He had another good morning today," trainer Murray Johnson said.

Perfect Drift was scheduled to have his paddock schooling session at Churchill Downs with the fourth race on Saturday's card.

Even though Perfect Drift is stabled at Trackside, he has trained at Churchill Downs, and made his racing debut here last fall before making his next five starts at Turfway Park.

"He trained over there for a couple of months last summer when Trackside was closed during the Ellis Park meet," Johnson said. "So being over there won't be totally new to him."

Two-time Derby-winning rider Eddie Delahoussaye has the mount.

PRIVATE EMBLEM/WINDWARD PASSAGE - Private Emblem and Windward Passage, trainer Steve Asmussen's hopefuls in Saturday's 128th Kentucky Derby, each galloped a mile and one-half this morning.

Asmussen's assistant, Scott Blasi, was aboard Windward Passage, while Lisa Orn again handled Private Emblem. According to Blasi, both three-year-olds are scheduled for half-mile workouts Monday and jockey Donnie Meche, who will ride Private Emblem in the Derby, will breeze both. A rider is still to be named for Windward Passage, who dead-heated for third with Bay Monster behind Private Emblem in the Arkansas Derby.

Proud Citizen - Coolmore Lexington Stakes (GII) winner Proud Citizen galloped shortly after 6 a.m. (EDT) with exercise rider Dimitri Dimitropoulos up.

"He had a great morning," said trainer D. Wayne Lukas after the colt returned to Barn 44, which features an American flag and a star-spangled Proud Citizen sign above signage listing Lukas' Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks winners.

Mike Smith, who rode Proud Citizen in the Lexington, retains the mount for the Derby.

Lukas said Proud Citizen would work early next week, "but not Sunday, because I think we are going to get some weather."

REQUEST FOR PAROLE - Jeri and Sam Knighton's Request For Parole jogged once around before the renovation break with exercise rider Loren Diego up. It was the Judge T C colt's first day back at the track after working six furlongs in 1:13.40 on Thursday.

Request For Parole will resume galloping Sunday morning, according to trainer Steve Margolis, who will be saddling his first Kentucky Derby starter.

Margolis saw his first Derby here in 1997 when Silver Charm won, and he was asked his impressions of watching horses train up to the race.

"Everybody has their own way of doing things," said Margolis, 39. "I worked for Stan Hough, Howie Tesher and Pat Byrne, and I learned a little from each one. You don't train them all the same way. It depends on each individual horse. Some need a little more, others you kind of baby and not train so hard. You remember things that you store, and then use them with how you want to do things."

Robby Albarado has the Derby mount.

SAARLAND - Cynthia Phipps' Saarland, fourth in the Wood Memorial, galloped a mile and one-half this morning under exercise rider Adolph Krajewski.

Saarland, who arrived at Churchill Downs Thursday afternoon, is scheduled to breeze Monday, according to Robert Medina, assistant to trainer Shug McGaughey. The latter is scheduled to arrive in Louisville Sunday evening.

Medina said Saarland arrived from New York in good shape and that the trip was uneventful.

STRAIGHT GIN - Marylou Whitney's Straight Gin worked five-eighths in :59.60 under exercise rider Jamie Sanders over a fast track after the renovation break. The work was the co-second fastest of 26 at the distance.

"This horse is good right now," said trainer Nick Zito of Straight Gin, who stands 23rd on the list of Derby hopefuls in terms of graded earnings for a race in which the top 20 earners get in the field. "Another couple of lengths in the Blue Grass and we're in. We still have to be ready. He did this today on his own; no company, no blinkers...on his own."

Straight Gin finished fourth in the Blue Grass, beaten less than two lengths for second.

"There is always Baltimore," said Zito, referring to the Preakness as the target for Straight Gin should he not make the Derby field. "But you still have to be ready. We are not going to do anything different next week."

SUNDAY BREAK - Koji Maeda's Sunday Break, a close-up third in the Wood Memorial (GI) but on the bubble to participate in next Saturday's 128th Kentucky Derby because he lacks sufficient graded stakes earnings to be in the top 20, galloped a mile and one-quarter this morning for trainer Neil Drysdale.

The Japanese-bred son of Forty Niner, beaten a half-length by Buddha and Medaglia d'Oro in the Wood two weeks ago, had exercise rider Marcelino Olguin in the saddle as usual.

"He's doing well," said Drysdale, who won the Derby two years ago with another Japanese-owned three-year-old, Fusaichi Pegasus, for Fusao Sekiguchi. "He got a little tired in the Wood because he didn't get as much as we hoped he would get out of his previous race. We're hopeful he gets to run in the Derby because he should improve."

Drysdale plans to breeze Sunday Break in the next couple of days. "It depends on the weather."

Should Sunday Break run, Gary Stevens has the mount.

U S S TINOSA - Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer has now indicated that U S S Tinosa will surface Tuesday at Churchill Downs. The gray colt by Foxhound is currently stationed with his conditioner at his Bay Meadows headquarters near San Francisco.

U S S Tinosa, named for a World War II submarine, will have Hall of Fame candidate Kent Desormeaux in the boot for Derby 128. The Ohio-bred is slated to be stabled in Barn 42 upon his arrival where he would join fellow Derby hopefuls Easy Grades, Wild Horses and It'sallinthechase.

WAR EMBLEM - The Thoroughbred Corp.'s recently-acquired War Emblem, upsetter of Repent in the Illinois Derby (GII), galloped a mile and a half this morning under exercise rider Mick Jenner for trainer Bob Baffert.

The son of Our Emblem, reportedly purchased for approximately $1 million by Prince Ahmed Salman, will school in the Churchill Downs paddock this afternoon with horses entered in the third race.

War Emblem, whom many observors expect to set the pace in the Kentucky Derby, is scheduled to breeze a half-mile or five-eighths Tuesday, according to Baffert, who has selected Victor Espinoza to handle the brown colt. Espinoza was third on the Baffert-trained Congaree to Monarchos a year ago.

WILD HORSES - Arkansas Derby (GII) runner-up Wild Horses galloped a mile and a half on a chilly morning at Churchill Downs as he prepared for his go in Derby 128 a week from today. Exercise rider Cindy Hutter also had the colt stand in the gate as part of his morning training.

"We'll work him tomorrow five-eighths after the break," said trainer Todd Pletcher. "I know we're looking at some rain here today and tonight, but this track holds the water pretty good and he (Wild Horses) doesn't have any problems with an 'off' track." The Saint Ballado colt broke his maiden on a 'sloppy' strip at Fair Grounds by 10 lengths.

Wild Horses, a Kentucky-bred with a win and three seconds on his ledger after five starts, is still without a rider for the mile and one-quarter classic.

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