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Indian Express, Kafwain Breeze In Company For Baffert
Apr. 23, 2003
By: John Asher and Gary Yunt

Kentucky Derby 129 Headlines:

  • Baffert Duo Works In Company
  • Ten Most Wanted Works Seven-Eighths
  • Sir Cherokee To Gallop At Churchill

    ATSWHATIMTALKNBOUT - B. Wayne Hughes and Biscuit Stables' Atswhatimtalknbout jogged a mile after the renovation break under exercise rider Raul Vizcarrando over a fast track Wednesday morning at Churchill Downs. Trainer Ron Ellis is due to return to Louisville on Wednesday night after a quick trip back tpo his home base at Santa Anita. The A.P. Indy colt is scheduled to work again on Sunday.

    BRANCUSI - Michael Tabor's Blue Grass Stakes runner-up Brancusi galloped a mile and a half under jockey Tony Farina at Keeneland. Trainer Patrick Biancone reports that everything continues to go well for Brancusi who would serve as the first Derby starter for both trainer and jockey. Brancusi is scheduled to van to Churchill Downs Friday afternoon for a scheduled six- or seven-furlong work Saturday morning before returning to Keeneland.

    BUDDY GIL - Desperado Stable's Buddy Gil returned to the track for the first time since a sizzling six-furlong work on Monday and galloped a mile under Amy Mullins, the wife of trainer Jeff Mullins. "He really seems to like it here," she said. "He's getting over the track really good." The winner of the Santa Anita Derby (GI) is scheduled to gallop on Thursday.

    EMPIRE MAKER/PEACE RULES - Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel's high-powered Kentucky Derby duo of Juddmonte Farm's homebred Empire Maker, the early favorite for Derby 129, and Edmund Gann's Peace Rules, winner of the Toyota Blue Grass (GI), walked on the day after a strong "open gallop" by both horses over the Churchill Downs strip. Frankel said both horses would likely turn in their final pre-Derby work on Sunday. NOTE TO MEDIA: Trainer Bobby Frankel has requested that media members wait until the end of training hours for interviews regarding his Kentucky Derby contenders and other horses pointed toward Derby Week stakes races at Churchill Downs. Mr. Frankel will meet with print and electronic media roughly 10 minutes after the close of training hours at 9:15 a.m. (EDT).

    FUNNY CIDE - Wood Memorial runner-up Funny Cide walked the shedrow at trainer Barclay Tagg's Belmont barn Wednesday morning a day after working a half-mile in :47 1/5. "Everything is great," assistant trainer Robin Smullen said. "He ate up and his legs are fine this morning. He will go back to the track tomorrow and jog and canter once around the wrong way, which is a mile and a half." Funny Cide is scheduled to breeze a half-mile next Tuesday and then fly to Louisville on Wednesday.

    KAFWAIN/INDIAN EXPRESS/SENOR SWINGER - Trainer Bob Baffert's duo of primary Kentucky Derby contenders - The Thoroughbred Corporation's Kafwain and Phil Chess' Indian Express - breezed six furlongs in company on Wednesday. Kafwain, winner of the San Vicente (GII) and third in the Santa Anita Derby (GI), completed the distance in 1:13.20 under jockey Sal Gonzalez. Indian Express, the runner-up in the Santa Anita Derby (GI), was clocked in 1:13.40 under exercise rider Dana Barnes. "It was a nice work," said Baffert. "They're not known to be very good work horses, so I worked them together. I brought some horses to work with them, but I just decided to work them together. The surface wasn't as glib as it has been, so it was a good work for them. It (the track) was soft and they got a lot out of it." Baffert was especially pleased by the effort by Kafwain, which was his first work since the Santa Anita Derby. The Cherokee Run colt became ill after that race and had missed nine days of training. "Kafwain needed a nice stiff, hard work and I think we accomplished that," he said. "He was probably blowing harder than the other horse (Indian Express). He never really tries very hard in the morning, that horse. Dana said he was bouncing off the track after that work." Baffert said he hopes that Wednesday's work by Kafwain means that the colt has "caught up" from the training he missed while on the sidelines. "He looks good," said Baffert. "He's not knocked out. He blew for a little bit, but that's what we wanted. We're tightening the screws. He's tough. He's the kind of horse that everybody forgets about him. He's been an overachiever. He's a very talented horse, but he has a huge heart - he tries so hard every time and never gives up." Baffert expects Indian Express to be a pace factor in Derby 129. "He's a very talented horse," said Baffert. "I have a young rider on him in Tyler Baze and he's going to be very nervous and all, so I'm going to tell him to ride him like he did at Santa Anita: just get him out there and go and take him as far as you can. That's all you can do." Baffert's duo will not be among the favorites for Kentucky Derby 129, but he came in under the media's radar to win last year's Kentucky Derby with War Emblem. "I think I'm much lower this year," Baffert laughed. "I'd rather come in here with the big guns, but they're nice horses. And I've come in here with big guns and gotten beat. I've been on both ends." Baffert also holds out the slim possibility that Robert and Beverly Lewis' Senor Swinger, fifth in the Wood Memorial (GI) in his first race for Baffert, could run in the Kentucky Derby. The colt worked on the turf on Tuesday and Baffert said he would most likely run in the Crown Royal American Turf (GIII) on Kentucky Oaks Day, but he refused to rule out a Derby bid. "Right now I'm leaning toward the Crown Royal - unless something happens," he said. "This picture changes every day. Every time you wake up somebody's either joined or dropped off, so you never know."

    OFFLEE WILD - Azalea Stable's Offlee Wild walked on the day after his strong five-furlong breeze in 1:01 2/5 in the company of stablemate Roman Centurion. Trainer T. V. Smith was pleased with the colt's demeanor on the day after that important move. "Looking at him you wouldn't know that he did anything," said Smith. "He really came back good. If I had to change anything I would have liked to have seen them go a little faster early, but they finished up strong and we got what we wanted." Before the work, Smith had left open the possibility that Offlee Wild might not work again before the Derby. He said he would wait a few days before he makes that decision.

    OUTTA HERE - Delta Jackpot winner Outta Here jogged once around the Hollywood Park track the wrong way Wednesday morning under assistant trainer Pat Seeley. Trainer Bill Currin plans to work Outta Here five-eighths Thursday morning and then ship to Louisville on Sunday. "Right now, all burners are burning," Currin said. "Everything is fine."

    SCRIMSHAW - Coolmore Lexington winner Scrimshaw returned to the track for the first time since his victory Saturday. With exercise rider Stacey Maker up, Scrimshaw jogged in the mile chute between 6:15 and 6:30 and later spent some time behind Barn 41 grazing in the grass. "I jog all my horses back there when they are in the later sets because there is not as much traffic," said trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Lukas has not named a rider for Scrimshaw.

    SIR CHEROKEE - Arkansas Derby winner Sir Cherokee was given the morning off by trainer Michael Tomlinson at Trackside Training Center. The Cherokee Run colt is scheduled to gallop at Churchill Downs on Thursday morning. "They are calling for rain on Friday, so we are going to come over Thursday instead," Tomlinson said. "We will leave here about 7:30 and we will be in Barn 45. We will let the first wave go out after the break and we should be in the second set about 8:30."

    SUPAH BLITZ - Fountain Of Youth runner-up Supah Blitz worked six furlongs in 1:13 at Calder with jockey Rosemary Homeister Jr. up Wednesday morning. "He went really good and we are ready to go," trainer Manny Tortora said. Plans call for Supah Blitz to leave Miami at 11 a.m. by van Thursday with a Friday morning arrival at Churchill Downs. Tortora plans to join the Mecke colt in Louisville on Monday with a work possible on Tuesday. Homeister will come in with Tortora and handle the morning riding activity.

    TEN MOST WANTED - Illinois Derby winner Ten Most Wanted worked seven furlongs from the three-quarter pole to the seven-eighths pole over a fast track after the renovation break in 1:25 3/5 with Derby rider Pat Day up. Churchill Downs clockers caught internal fractions of :12 1/5, :25, :37, :49, 1:00 1/5 and 1:11 4/5. "I got him galloping out in 1:38 and change," trainer Wally Dollase said. "It was a nice work, but the main thing is Pat Day was very happy." Day has ridden Ten Most Wanted in his past two starts, the latter being the Illinois Derby victory, from which Ten Most Wanted shipped to Keeneland. "I had a couple horses at Keeneland, which is why I went there," Dollase said. "Plus the grass is a little greener there and he likes to nibble." Dollase said Ten Most Wanted would work a half-mile three or four days before Derby 129 next week. "The main thing I think with this guy is I am pretty sure he will get that last eighth of a mile," Dollase said. "He has plenty of energy. I didn't walk him around the barn; he walked me. It is exciting to have a horse of that kind of quality." It was the first time Day had worked Ten Most Wanted. "I was very pleased with the way he went about his business," Day said. "He was a little bit anxious going away to the pole and he got to throwing his head a little bit. He was wanting to be on about his work and consequently he was right on top of the pole rather than have a decent run at it. "He went about his business in a professional fashion, finished up nice and well within himself. I think he is decidedly more competitive when he has something to run at, but he was responsive and finished up nicely and galloped out strong. I got him pulled up about the half-mile pole, and he wasn't even blowing. He's got a great foundation under him and he is coming into the race the right way. I think he might have put on some weight since the Illinois race (April 5). He has dappled out nice and is handling his surroundings very well." Day rode Ten Most Wanted for the first time in the El Camino Real Derby on March 8 and then the Illinois Derby. "The change between the California and Illinois races was profound," Day said. "It is really like the light came on. He was willing to do what I wanted him to do and had a very professional response in the Illinois race."

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