Rain makes for quiet work tab

Monday, April 23 Churchill Downs

Track: Sloppy Raining Temp. 53°

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The unpredictable spring weather at Churchill Downs that has prompted the connections of many of the top contenders for this year’s Kentucky Derby to complete most if not all of their final

preparations for the race at home reared its ugly head on Monday. Moderate to heavy morning rain turned the main track to a sea of slop from the time the course opened for training at 5:15 a.m.

The special 15-minute training session for Derby and Kentucky Oaks contenders, which has been pushed up an hour to 7:30 for the first time this year, was uneventful Monday, with only a handful of horses braving the rain and wet track conditions to turn in routine gallops. Or in the case of Blue Grass winner Good Magic, an easy jog once around the one-mile oval during his first visit to the track since vanning here from Keeneland on Sunday.

The most significant work of the morning came well before the Derby/Oaks session, at 6 a.m., when trainer Tom Amoss sent out Oaks hopeful Chocolate Martini to breeze an easy five furlongs in 1:03.26 in company with stablemate Patriot Drive. Chocolate Martini was cautiously handled throughout over the sloppy surface, posting splits of 25.56 seconds and 38.34 before galloping out about a length behind her mate in 1:16.70. Chocolate Martini has won both her starts since being haltered by Amoss for $25,000 earlier this winter, including the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks.

Trainer Todd Pletcher’s powerful quartet of Derby hopefuls, Audible, Magnum Moon, Noble Indy, and Vino Rosso, arrived Monday and are likely to have their final works here Friday, weather permitting.

Sunday

Reride, who still needs a few defections to run, was the only potential Derby starter to work at Churchill Downs on

Sunday. He

cruised a very

easy halfmile in 51.65,

breezing

for the first

time since his distant third-place finish behind Mendelssohn in the UAE Derby three weeks earlier.

The lone Oaks worker of Sunday morning came well before the special training session, with Patrona Margarita turning in a solid half-mile in 48.77. The work was punctuated by an aggressive gallop-out, five-eighths in 1:01.94, before pulling up six furlongs in 1:15.34. Patrona Margarita won the Grade 2 Pocahontas here at 2.

Two significant Derby works

Sunday, April 22 Churchill Downs

Track: Fast Cloudy Temp. 52°

were turned in out of town Sunday, the most noteworthy by top contender Bolt d’Oro, who covered seven furlongs from the six-furlong marker at Santa Anita in 1:24.20 while aggressively handled to and through the wire by jockey Victor Espinoza.

Trainer Bill Mott opted to keep Hofburg down at Payson Park for one more breeze prior to shipping north. The Florida Derby runner-up got a bit of a schooling, working in behind an unidentified workmate to the top of the stretch before slipping up the rail to complete five furlongs from the half-mile pole in 1:01.60. Hofburg was scheduled to board a van for Churchill Downs on Monday and will have his final Derby prep here next weekend.