Kentucky Derby Worktab (April 19th, 2008)

Over Calder's fast track on Saturday, Hutcheson S. (G2) hero SMOOTH AIR (Smooth Jazz) worked seven furlongs in 1:25 4/5 with exercise rider Jodi Gelb aboard. The Bennie Stutts Jr. pupil galloped out one mile in 1:40 4/5. This move was his final local tune-up before leaving South Florida for the May 3 Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs.

"He feels great and is ready to go," Gelb said after the breeze.

"That was a great work," a smiling Stutts, 70, confirmed.

Smooth Air is coming off a pair of solid placed efforts. Third in the Sam F. Davis S. at Tampa Bay Downs, the bay colt was most recently second to the ultra-impressive Big Brown (Boundary) in the Florida Derby (G1).

A third-generation horseman, Stutts has been training racehorses at Calder since the track opened in 1971. Stutts and Smooth Air, his first Kentucky Derby starter, will board a Tex Sutton charter plane Sunday morning in West Palm Beach, Florida, destined for Louisville, Kentucky.

"I don't want to be far from the horse," said Stutts, who was enjoying his first round of pre-Derby publicity at his Calder barn Saturday. Film crews from ESPN and the local ABC affiliate (WPLG) were on hand for the workout and to interview the trainer and his wife, Diane.

Stutts reported that jockey Manoel Cruz, who has ridden Smooth Air in all seven of the colt's races, will retain the mount in the Kentucky Derby. It will be Cruz' first mount in the Run for the Roses.

Plans call for Smooth Air to work at Churchill on April 27.