Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Known Agenda pleases Pletcher with easy workout
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The initial thought when Known Agenda stepped out on the racetrack Friday morning at Palm Beach Downs to work for the first time since his victory in the Grade 1 Florida Derby was the fact he was not equipped with the blinkers that have seemed to take him to the next level in his last two starts. The second impression, after watching Known Agenda breeze a very easy half-mile in 50.37, is that he’s probably not the type of horse who is going to wow anybody, blinkers or not, in the morning.
Working in company and inside the older Grade 1 turf winner Colonel Liam, Known Agenda breezed a leisurely opening furlong in 13.50 before the riders picked up the pace a bit on the turn at the behest of trainer Todd Pletcher via walkie-talkie. The duo completed the quarter in 26.04 before leveling out nicely down the lane, both well within themselves through the wire, and showing excellent energy galloping out around the turn in 1:03.75, easing up after six furlongs in 1:17.25.
“First one back, 13 days after the race, we were just looking to go in 50,” Pletcher said. “He broke off a little on the easy side, finished up good, solid gallop-out. I really like the way he lowered down today to finish like he did in the Florida Derby. I’m really happy the way the horse has come out of the Florida Derby. He’s had a good two weeks, his energy level has been excellent, his appetite great. He’s taken the race really great.”
As for working without blinkers on Friday, Pletcher said: “He usually works without blinkers. We might put some blinkers on for the next one at Churchill, which will probably be our most solid work of the three he’s going to have [prior to the Kentucky Derby]. He’s probably not the type of horse who is going to go to Churchill and work 59 and change like Always Dreaming did. That’s just not his style, not his personality. I just hope to see him go there and work the way he’s been working here.”
Known Agenda is scheduled to depart South Florida this weekend and head to Churchill Downs, where he’ll meet up with stablemates Bourbonic, Dynamic One, and Sainthood, all of whom are being pointed for the Kentucky Derby.
Pletcher commented on the the effect the addition of blinkers has had on Known Agenda. He wore them for the first time in an 11-length allowance win here on Feb. 26 and then again in the Florida Derby.
“I think he’s a horse who is improving, and the blinkers have kept him a little more focused and a little more engaged in the race,” said Pletcher. “I think without the blinkers in the Florida Derby he might have been a little intimidated with the position he was in and he might not have made the progress he made from the five-eighths pole to the halfmile pole without them. But experience has also helped him. Time has helped him. The mile and an eighth certainly doesn’t bother him. And I believe the added distance in the Derby is something we feel good about for all our horses.”
Pletcher also sent the undefeated Happy Saver out Friday at Palm Beach Downs to breeze an easy three furlongs, his first work since winning the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup last October. Pletcher said he still has a few more shots to fire locally before shipping his entire locally based stable north for the summer.
“We’ll probably run Con Lima in the Honey Ryder on May 1 and we’ve got one for the English Channel the following week, then we’ll probably wrap it up down here after that,” said Pletcher.
Likeable might get turf try
A $47,000 allowance race carded at a mile on the turf for 3-year-olds will serve as Sunday’s main event. A field of 10 was entered, among them the Todd Pletcher-trained Likeable, who will try grass for the first time if the race goes as scheduled. Forecasters on Thursday were calling for a 70 percent chance of rain here on Sunday.
Likeable earned himself a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile with an 8 1/4-length allowance win at Belmont Park on Sept. 19 that resulted in a Beyer Speed Figure of 81. But he got involved in an early speed duel in the Juvenile, and shortened stride to finish far behind the winner, current Derby favorite Essential Quality. A son of Frosted and a half-brother to one turf winner, Likeable has made just one start at 3, finishing a tiring fourth going seven furlongs in the Grade 3 Swale here.
Yes This Time could prove the horse to beat if the headliner stays on turf, having won his last two starts and three of his last four over the local course while seeing his Beyer Speed Figures improve with each outing. Trained by Kelly Breen, Yes This Time figures to be part of what could be a contentious early pace.
An honest pace could enhance the chances of the stakes-placed Fighting Force, who drops in with allowance company for the first time after a steady diet of stakes outings. He is coming off a troubled seventh-place effort, beaten just four lengths, in the Cutler Bay on March 27.