Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
With a flourish in morning, Encino makes his Derby case
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Fourteen hours before post positions were to be drawn for the 150th Kentucky Derby, a serious contender officially joined the party.
Encino, just two weeks after winning the Lexington Stakes to earn enough points to make the field, sealed his connections’ decision to run in next week’s Kentucky Derby with a superb five-furlong workout shortly after 5:15 a.m. Saturday.
With jockey Florent Geroux aboard, Encino went five furlongs in 59.64 seconds, starting a length behind his more highly regarded Derby stablemate Catching Freedom and finishing a neck in front at the wire. Encino got his final quarter in 23.31, according to Daily Racing Form clocker Mike Welsch, and proceeded to gallop out six furlongs in 1:12.11 and seven furlongs in 1:26.58.
Saturday morning’s work capped a series of eye-catching training sessions for Encino, who only made his first start on dirt on April 13 in the Lexington, prevailing by three-quarters of a length over The Wine Steward.
Prior to that, Encino had gone 2 for 3 over Turfway Park’s synthetic surface, including a victory in the John Battaglia Memorial.
Trainer Brad Cox named apprentice Axel Concepcion to ride Encino in the Derby. The 19-year-old native of Puerto Rico was the champion apprentice jockey of 2023. He has only been a journeyman rider for about three months. On Friday, Concepcion won his first graded stakes when he guided the Coxtrained Chop Chop to victory in the Grade 3 Bewitch Stakes.
“I think he’s a top rider,” Cox said Saturday morning. “For his age, he’s incredibly cool and calm. I think he’s got a big future and I think he’s a really good rider.”
Also confirmed for the Derby on Saturday morning was Endlessly, the Jeff Ruby Steaks winner who was also being considered for the Grade 2 American Turf on the same card. Trainer Michael McCarthy, who has offered some resistance to running Endlessly on the dirt given his 5-for-6 record on turf and synthetic, said following a good work Friday over the main track at Churchill Downs and a conversation with owner John Amerman, the decision was made to run in the Derby. Umberto Rispoli will ride.
Cox said he had Geroux work Encino because he had ridden him in the Lexington and wanted to get feedback from him on how the horse was getting over the Churchill surface.
“He really liked” the work, Cox said. “I’m sure Flo wished we’d wait for the Preakness.”
Cox reiterated that Catching Freedom is not a flashy workhorse, but he certainly shows up in the afternoon. He figures to be a top-five choice in the Derby based on his victory in the Louisiana Derby, where he rallied from last to win by a length over Honor Marie.
“He’s definitely shown he can get the distance,” Cox said. “I think he’s got to get a good trip and I do think he can be a little bit closer to the pace than he was in the Louisiana Derby. The horse next to him broke through the gate, he lunged forward, banged himself, and that jarred him a little bit. That’s one reason why he broke so flat-footed last time.”
Later in the morning, Just a Touch, the Blue Grass runnerup, worked five furlongs by himself in 1:00.62 under Geroux.
“Overall, he’s doing well, he’s fit, just put two steady moves into him here,” Cox said. “He’s getting over the track well.”
The Cox trio were among nine Derby horses to put in workouts Saturday morning at Churchill.
Sierra Leone and Domestic Product, both trained by Chad Brown, worked five furlongs in 1:00.32, per Welsch. Though Tyler Gaffalione rides Sierra Leone, he worked Domestic Product. Brown said Gaffalione knows the horse, having ridden him in the Tampa Bay Derby, and he wanted to make sure the sometimes hard-pulling horse didn’t do too much.
“I wanted them to work on even terms,” Brown said. “I told Tyler if he starts to pull a little bit, don’t let him poke his head just in front because then he wants to go on at that point, then he’s going to get away from you. We purposely kept him just a head [behind] and he was
content, but galloping out Tyler said he had a ton of horse.”
Regarding Sierra Leone, on whom Gaffalione is 2 for 2, Gaffalione said he liked the fact that when Domestic Product came up to him, “you could see him stick his head out a little bit more. It definitely helps having a little encouragement on the outside.”
Trainer Danny Gargan worked his pair of Dornoch and Society Man together. They went a half-mile in 47.03, per Welsch, with a solid gallop-out of 59.58 and 1:12.57.
“They looked good doing it. They weren’t riding them or anything. We wanted a nice gallop-out because we’re going a mile and a quarter in the Derby,” Gargan said. “They galloped out really good, I thought. Society Man got a little blow out of it, so he might have needed a good work. Dornoch did it easy. He never really shows any sign of being tired, so he came back like nothing happened.”
Also working for the Derby were Mystik Dan, the Southwest winner who went five furlongs in 1:01.20 in company with recent maiden winner Elephant’s Ear; and West Saratoga, the Jeff Ruby Steaks runner-up who worked three furlongs in 37.11.
Asmussen a busy man
It was a whirlwind, albeit successful, 12 hours for trainer Steve Asmussen.
On Saturday afternoon, Asmussen was at Oaklawn Park, where he watched Valentine Candy win the Bachelor Stakes, the 3-yearold’s fourth stakes win of the meet. Asmussen jumped in his car for the eight-hour drive to Churchill Downs during which time he was kept apprised of his stable winning four races at Lone Star Park in Texas and then a victory by Zeitlos in the Roxelana Stakes, the latter being the opening-night feature at Churchill Downs.
Asmussen arrived in Kentucky about 3:30 a.m. Sunday and two hours later was at Churchill to watch Track Phantom put in his final workout before Saturday’s Kentucky Derby.
Track Phantom, the Grade 3 Lecomte winner who most recently finished fourth in the Louisiana Derby, worked five furlongs in 1:00.08, per Welsch. Track Phantom worked in company with the maiden filly Mugen, sitting just off her and finishing a head back of her at the wire. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.74.
It was a more significant move than is typically done by Asmussen less than a week out from a major race. The Hall of Fame trainer noted how fast the track is, pointing to the fact Zeitlos “who on a good day goes 1:10,” Asmussen said, ran six furlongs in 1:09.01 six hours earlier in the Roxelana.
Sunday’s move was Track Phantom’s third work since the Louisiana Derby, all done in blinkers, equipment he will wear for the first time in the Derby. Asmussen added blinkers after he felt the horse “noticed something” and broke stride a little in the Louisiana Derby.
“He’s handled really nicely with the blinkers,” Asmussen said Sunday. “His work a week ago, he was a little aggressive going into the turn, but he came right back to him and today he was just smooth as glass.”
Asmussen, the all-time leader in wins with 10,486, is still in search of his first Kentucky Derby victory. He has started 25 horses in 17 Derbies from 200123. Track Phantom, who was the favorite in the Louisiana Derby, is listed as a 20-1 shot in the Kentucky Derby.
“He was in everybody’s top five until the Louisiana Derby, and I think he can do better than that,” Asmussen said. “I think his strength is how efficient he moves and the rhythm of it, when he broke stride a bit [in Louisiana Derby] he was unable to get back into it. Watching how the racetrack played [Saturday], it’s considerably faster than the track he came off of, which should suit him.”
Asmussen was not the only man on the move Sunday. Trainer Phil D’Amato left Churchill to head back to his base in Southern California shortly after he watched his Kentucky Derby contender Stronghold work five furlongs in in 59.78, per Welsch’s watch.
Stronghold, the Santa Anita Derby winner, tracked stablemate Motorious – a graded stakes-winning turf sprinter who runs Saturday in the Twin Spires Turf Sprint – and finished up in 24.07 before galloping out in 1:13.51 under jockey Joe Talamo.
“I couldn’t have drawn it up any better, just something steady, even, keep the energy tank full,” D’Amato said. “Fiftynine-and-four with Joe sitting like a statue, I thought that was perfect.”
“He’s ultra-fit too. He barely took a sip of water when I was watching him cool out,” D’Amato added.
D’Amato said he was going back to California to watch a bevy of workers Monday at Santa Anita.
There were three other Derby workers on Sunday morning. Resilience, the Wood Memorial winner, went a half-mile by himself in 49.16, his third work in 10 days since arriving at Churchill.
Florida Derby runner-up Catalytic went a half-mile in 48.12 under his new rider, Jose Ortiz. He went in company with the For Some Reason, a 3-yearold gelding who won for maiden $12,500 claiming.
Just Steel, the Arkansas Derby runner-up, went a halfmile in 50.43 seconds, a little slower than trainer D. Wayne Lukas wanted. Lukas said his exercise rider, Brianne Culp, may have overcompensated for going too fast Saturday on Oaks contender Lemon Muffin.
“It’s not a big deal,” Lukas said. “If you’re going to err, err on the [slow] side, not on the fast side. The fast side gets you in a turbulator and ice boots.”