Always Dreaming has spirited morning workout

For just a moment Monday morning, the old anxiety rose inside Todd Pletcher as he watched Kentucky Derby champion Always Dreaming bounce onto the track at Pimlico Race Course.

As he had been in his first days at Churchill Downs, the willful colt was so excited that he seemed ready to launch into a full-on breeze rather than the planned easy gallop. Exercise rider Nick

Bush had to yank on Always Dreaming’s draw reins — the nowcelebrated piece of equipment that gives a rider extra leverage — to calm the Derby winner down.

“He actually scared me a little bit, because he was feeling so good when he went out that in his first couple strides, he went to try to buck Nick off and kind of stumbled a little bit,” Pletcher said. “But he got right back on his feet and after that, it was a very smooth, energetic and good gallop. Obviously, you don’t want any stumbles at this stage of the game. So it gave me a little bit of a fright.”

It seems Always Dreaming simply enjoys living on the edge in the run-up to big races, a formula that worked for him at the Derby.

“That was every morning at Churchill,” Pletcher said, chuckling. “It’s good that he’s feeling this good. We’re just trying to keep him healthy, and we don’t want him to make a mistake.”

Pletcher contrasted his experience with Always Dreaming to the relatively listless gallops his previous Derby champion, Super Saver, delivered at Pimlico in 2010.

“He was very easy to gallop, wasn’t putting a whole lot into it, wasn’t pulling the rider around there,” Pletcher recalled. “So with Always Dreaming, we came in here wanting him to be relaxed, but we don’t want him to be too relaxed. That might be the wrong sign.”

Gunnevera takes to the track

The team behind seventh-place Derby finisher Gunnevera simply wants a clean shot to chase down Always Dreaming in the Preakness.

Mud and a wide trip made it difficult for the late charger to make a run in the Derby. But if some horse steps forward to push the pace early, Gunnevera could give Always Dreaming a scare at Pimlico.

“You have the old analogy, the hare and the tortoise,” said Larry

Kelly, a former trainer who drove Gunnevera to Baltimore and has been advising his camp. “Obviously, we come from behind and obviously, Todd’s horse is extremely talented. We need a pace, no doubt about it. We need some action on the front end. With an honest pace and without a wide trip, I’d like to have a good, honest run at him.”