Golden Soul breezes for Travers Stakes

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Trainer Dallas Stewart sounded an upbeat note Thursday morning after Golden Soul worked five furlongs in 1:01.40, breezing, over the Oklahoma training track in preparation for the Grade 1, $ 1 million Travers Stakes on Aug. 24.

“He worked this morning, and he worked great,” Stewart said. “Did it easy, galloped out really good, was on his toes coming home. So, he seems pretty much ready. I’m happy with the way he cooled out and the way he’s coming up to the race.”

The Charles Fipke homebred son of Perfect Soul rallied from 15th place to be second in the Kentucky Derby, and subsequently finished ninth in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes and then last of seven in the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational.

Stewart said that when Golden Soul’s blood work came back good, his appetite was strong and he showed good energy on the racetrack in the mornings after the Haskell, he sent the horse back into training.

“We’re paying attention more when they come out of a bad race to see if anything has come apart that you don’t feel good about,” Stewart said. “But, at this point, everybody on my staff, my vet, we all feel good about the way he’s trained for the last three weeks, especially the last week. He looks like he’s come up a level in his training, his energy.

“I know he’s good enough to win it if we have him ready,” Stewart said. “You can’t go in there half trained up. You’ve got to cowboy up and train this son of a gun, and the horse has to prove it to you. We have to be ready and make sure the horse is prepared in a way he’s supposed to be prepared, and he’s tested every morning with hard training. If he’s not capable, we need to do something else.

“If he goes out there and goes (five furlongs) in 1:03, you’re going to wonder,” he added. “If he works in a minute and he doesn’t eat up for three or four days, and he’s not on the bit galloping, and he’s not looking right, you’ve got some problems. But he’s passed all of the good tests we’ve laid out for him.” — NYRA