Derby News

With jockey Calvin Borel up, James Tafel's champion Street Sense put in his final pre-Kentucky Derby work on a clear Tuesday morning at Churchill Downs by working five furlongs in 1:01. The solo work, the fifth-fastest of 22 at the distance,  was accomplished over a track labeled as "fast" before the renovation break.

Churchill Downs clockers timed the move in :13.60 for the first eighth, :26 for the first quarter, :38 for the three-eighths, :49.80 for the half and a gallop out time of 1:13 for the six furlongs.

Jerry Hissam, Borel's agent, reported that his rider was "ecstatic" after the work. "You go in 1:01 and out in 13, you can't do any better than that," Hissam said.

The mood was also ecstatic back at Barn 26 where trainer Carl Nafzger was holding court with the media.

"I'll be disappointed Sunday if all of you are not here," Nafzger said with a laugh. "I hate withdrawal.

"The work was good. Everybody saw it. He got his first quarter in 26 and picked it on up and galloped out. That's him. If we had slowed him down, we'd have gone too slow. He wanted to have fun and we let him. We'd have really messed him up if I had told Calvin ‘now don't let him run down the lane.' He wants to do this. He loves to do what he is doing.

"He set the program; he brought us here and we are going to go with him all the way. If he gets us there, he gets us there and that's horse racing. We only have 19 to beat, so it looks pretty easy now."

Tuesday's work almost mirrored the one Street Sense put in the Tuesday before the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (GI) in which Street Sense ran second, beaten a nose by Dominican. That day he worked five furlongs in 1:04, six days after working a bullet five-eighths in  :58.40.

"The only difference was he got his first quarter the last time in 27 and 4 and today it was 26 flat," Nafzger said of the move that came seven days after Street  Sense worked a bullet five-eighths in :59.

Street Sense came off the track quiet and composed, which is normal for the son of Street Cry.

"He looks like somebody had just put their grandkids on Old Nelly and took them down to the lake bottom to ride around a while," Nafzger said.

"His attitude; that's a big thing. It's up to him now; it has been all the time. He has brought us here and it is up to him on Saturday. Just show me some daylight at the head of the lane, and I'll rest my case."

Street Sense most likely will return to the track in the morning for light exercise with Thursday a walk day with paddock schooling in the afternoon and then gallop up to Derby 133.

<< Back to News