Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Awesome Slew has local work for second crack at Met Mile
ELMONT, N.Y. – When trying to determine why Awesome Slew ran so poorly in last year’s Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap, trainer Mark Casse felt one potential reason was that he shipped the horse to New York too late.
This year, Casse decided to ship the horse to Belmont early enough to get him a workout over the main track in preparation for the $1.2 million Met Mile. That plan fell through when Mother Nature doused the area with heavy rain Friday morning, prompting assistant trainer Jamie Begg to move Awesome Slew’s work to the training track.
As the rain started to pick up at 8:27 a.m., Awesome Slew worked a half-mile in 49.25 seconds, getting his final quarter in 24.10 before galloping out five furlongs in 1:02.03.
Casse, who watched a video of the work that Begg had sent him, said, “I thought he worked really nice. The rider was happy, Jamie was happy, so I’m happy.”
Casse has had Awesome Slew for 10 starts beginning in February 2017. In those starts, all graded stakes, Awesome Slew finished in the top three in all but the Met Mile.
“That was one race I kind of struggled with trying to figure out why he didn’t run better,” Casse said. “I thought it was his poorest performance. We shipped him in a little too late, I thought. That was one of the reasons why I sent him up there a little early, switch things up.”
Last year, Awesome Slew came into the Met Mile off a head loss in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs. This year, he will enter off a neck loss in the same race.
The Met Mile, which will be drawn Tuesday for next Saturday’s Belmont Stakes card, is expected to include Bee Jersey, Bolt d’Oro, Good Samaritan, McCraken, Mind Your Biscuits, Ransom the Moon, and Warrior’s Club.
Casse also shipped in several other stakes runners for next weekend.
Gio Game, pointing to the Grade 1 Acorn, went a half-mile in 49.79 seconds over the training track. La Coronel, pointing to the Grade 1 Just a Game, went a half-mile in 50 seconds. Holding Gold, pointing to the Grade 2 Japuir, went a half-mile in 49.53.
Pletcher stakes horses gear up
Before the heavy rain came and impacted track conditions Friday, trainer Todd Pletcher got in key workouts for several of his Belmont Stakes Day runners.
Ivy Bell and Unbridled Mo worked a half-mile in 48.95 seconds in company for the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps. Pletcher said he might cross-enter Ivy Bell in Friday’s Bed o’ Roses but is leaning toward the Phipps.
In Friday’s workout, Unbridled Mo, under John Velazquez, began a length behind Ivy Bell, but the two were on even terms through an opening quarter in 25.25. The pair came home in 23.70 and continued on through seven furlongs in 1:28.92, with Ivy Bell a tad stronger on the gallop-out.
“I thought they both worked very well, both are in good form,” Pletcher said.
Hi Happy and Blind Ambition worked a half-mile together in 48.79. Hi Happy is pointing to the Grade 1 Manhattan, while Blind Ambition will run in the Jaipur.
Late in the morning, after rain turned the training track into a sea of slop, Pletcher called another audible and moved eight scheduled workers to the main track. Among that group were Hard Study and Outplay, who went a halfmile in company in 48.75 for the Grade 2 Brooklyn Invitational.
Outshine, one of three horses Pletcher is pointing to Friday’s Tremont Stakes, worked a halfmile in 50.04 in company with March X Press. Velazquez was aboard Outshine, who will be joined in the Tremont by Social Fan and Sombeyay, who worked a half-mile in company Thursday in 48.94.
Rugbyman drills for Easy Goer
Add Rugbyman to the list of prospective starters for next Saturday’s Easy Goer Stakes.
Trainer Graham Motion made that decision not long after the lightly raced Tapit colt worked four furlongs in dense fog in 48.60 seconds over the Belmont Park main track under jockey Jose Ortiz early Friday morning.
Rugbyman enters the 1 1/16mile Easy Goer off a 14-length maiden win here May 13. He had finished third in his career debut four weeks earlier at Keeneland.
“Jose seemed happy with him this morning, so I’m inclined to give him the opportunity to run in the Easy Goer,” Motion said by phone from the Fair Hill Training Center. “Obviously, it’s a big jump, but the alternative is to end up in a one-other-than allowance race against older horses, so you’re kind of caught between a rock and a hard place. I couldn’t have expected him to run the way he did when he broke his maiden in his second start, but the way he won, I believe he deserves a shot and belongs in there.”
Motion also had a busy morning at Fair Hill on Friday, working several horses for races next week in New York, including Berned in the Ogden Phipps Stakes, Lady Alexandra in the Intercontinental, and Cairenn,who is under consideration for the Bed o’ Roses.
◗ The 3-year-old Montauk, a sharp-looking 11 1/4-length debut winner here last October for Pletcher, worked three furlongs in 37 seconds over the training track Friday. It was his first work since February. Pletcher said if all goes well, Montauk could race in six to eight weeks.