Lane's End Winner Adriano 'Likely' For Kentucky Derby After Work At Churchill Downs

Courtlandt Farm’s homebred Adriano is now considered “likely” for a run in the $2 million-guaranteed Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (Grade I) following a four-furlong workout on Sunday at Churchill Downs, where the race will be run on Saturday, May 3, for the 134th consecutive year.

The Graham Motion-trained chestnut son of A.P. Indy, winner of the Lane’s End Stakes (GII) at Turfway Park, had jockey Edgar Prado in the saddle as he breezed a half-mile in intermittent rain over a “fast” surface in :50 The 3-year-old colt breezed in company with Longley, a 4-year-old Courtlandt Farm stablemate. Longley broke off in front of Adriano, but the duo raced as a team through the turn and into upper stretch before Adriano and Prado pushed past in the final furlong to finish a length in front of his workmate.

Motion planned to discuss the colt’s immediate future later in the day with Courtlandt Farm owner Donald Adam, but he felt Adriano had shown enough in Sunday’s easy work over the track at Churchill Downs to earn a start in the “Run for the Roses.” He had said earlier that a good work over the surface at the Louisville track could earn Adriano a trip to the Kentucky Derby, but the colt could run in Saturday’s $325,000 Coolmore Lexington (GII) at Keeneland if he did not handle the Churchill Downs surface well.

“I’m pretty sure we’re going to go for it after this – I don’t know why we wouldn’t,” Motion said. “Believe me, I want to win the Derby as much as anybody else does, but I don’t think it’s engraved in my mind that I’ve got to get there. I want to get there for the right reasons, and I think when we analyze it and we talk with Mr. Adam and with Edgar, I think it is the right thing to do at this point. That was depending upon what happened today, and I think it went well.”

Churchill Downs clockers caught Adriano in fractions of :13, :25.40 and :37.80 and the colt galloped out five furlongs in 1:03.40. Longley was time in :50.40 for his five-furlong move. Adriano’s move ranked 29th among 42 at the distance.

“He went nice,” said Prado. “He started nice and easy, and he finished good. When I called on him, he was there. He galloped out really good and it seemed like he handled it very well. Graham was happy and I was very happy with him.”

Motion had expressed reservations about Adriano’s handling of traditional dirt courses like the one-mile oval at Churchill Downs after the colt turned in a disappointing 9th behind Cool Coal Man in the Fountain of Youth (GII) on Feb. 24 at Gulfstream Park. That was his first race on traditional dirt after Adriano had raced on grass or Polytrack in his five previous races. Motion’s concern about the colt’s capability on dirt was one reason Adriano turned up in the Lane’s End, where he romped by 2 ½-lengths over the Polytrack surface at the northern Kentucky track. Motion brought Adriano to Churchill Downs to see how his colt would handle the dirt footing under the historic Twin Spires, and was pleased with what he saw as he watched the move from a seat atop his stable pony.

“He seemed to handle it fine,” said Motion. “I thought he looked good. I don’t think the time was real flashy, but, to be honest, I really wasn’t asking him to do that. And it (the track) was kind of ‘cuppy’ – I’m guessing they didn’t put a lot of water on the track because of the rain, so it just looked like it was a little loose.”

“I pretty much told Edgar he had a free rein to do what he wanted, within reason. He kind of smooched to him at the eighth pole and he really lengthened his stride. He just seemed to accelerate like he would on any surface. I couldn’t say he went a lot differently than he would have gone on the turf or the Polytrack.”

If Adam and Motion make the expected decision to point Adriano toward the Kentucky Derby, Prado will have a decision to make. Prado, who piloted Roy and Gretchen Jackson’s Barbaro to win the Kentucky Derby in 2006, is coming off victories in Saturday’s Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (GI) aboard Starlight Stable, Paul Saylor and Donald Lucarelli’s Monba and last week’s Wood Memorial (GI) on Charles Fipke’s Tale of Ekati.

Motion indicated that Prado would need to make a decision on whether he would stick with Adriano for the Derby within “24 hours.”

“He’s got to make up his mind, and I don’t want to miss out on getting somebody else,” said Motion. “If Edgar is not the ‘money rider’ right now, he’s certainly one of the two or three.”

“Hopefully, everything will work out good,” Prado said of his looming choice. “We hope he (Adriano) will come out of the work beautiful and we’ll play it from there. We just hope we make the right choice.”

If Adriano makes his expected bid for the 134th Kentucky Derby, he would bring a career record of 3-1-0 in seven races and earnings of $387,700 into the race. A Derby bid by Adriano would be the second for Motion, who saddled Lazy Lane Farm’s Chilito to finish 11th in the 1998 Derby, and the first for Courtland Farm.

Motion planned to take Adriano back to Keeneland after Sunday’s work. If the ultimate decision is to point Adriano toward the Kentucky Derby, Motion said the colt would likely return to Churchill Downs late this week.