Hull

KENTUCKY OAKS WINNER RACHEL ALEXANDRA WORKS FOR NEW BARN – Possible Preakness candidate Rachel Alexandra, a record-smashing 20 ¼-length winner of the Kentucky Oaks (Grade I) tuned up for a possible bid for Saturday’s $1 million Preakness Stakes (GI) with an easy four-furlong work on Sunday at Churchill Downs.
    The 3-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro, working for the first time for new trainer Steve Asmussen, covered the half-mile distance over a “fast” track in :48.40.  Exercise rider Dominic Terry was in the saddle as Rachel Alexandra turned out fractional times of :12.40 and :24.40 and galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.  The move ranked 13th  among 81 works at the distance.
    “I thought it went beautiful,” Asmussen said.  “I’m surprised the racetrack dried out so well considering they cancelled (races) two days ago.
    “She’s a beautiful filly.  I think she’s doing extremely well.  Every sight of her has been impressive and I’m just very happy to get this light move in this morning under very good conditions.”
    Rachel Alexandra was transferred from the care of trainer Hal Wiggins to Asmussen when the filly was purchased for an undisclosed price early last week by Jess Jackson’s Stonestreet Farm and Harold McCormick.   Jackson had indicated that the filly would be made a supplemental entry to the Preakness, the second jewel of the Triple Crown, if she continued to do well in her new barn.  But Asmussen said on Sunday that a decision on Rachel Alexandra’s Preakenss bid had yet to be made.  
    “That’s Mr. Jackson’s discretion – whatever timetable he wants to be on,” said Asmussen.  “We’re just very fortunate to have her in our care and we’ll just communicate what we think we’re seeing.”
    Asmussen won the Preakness in 2007 with eventual “Horse of the Year” and 3-year-old champion Curlin, who rallied to edge Kentucky Derby (GI) winner Street Sense in that race.  He declined to speculate where Rachel Alexandra fits among the males being toward Saturday’s race at Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course.
    “I think it’s like all races – you only worry about what you can take care of,” he said.  “The filly has proven what a tremendous mare she is.  Mr. Wiggins has done a remarkable job with an amazing filly and we’re just very fortunate to be around her.”
    Rachel Alexandra’s win in the Kentucky Oaks was her fifth consecutive victory – all in stakes competition – and lifted her career earnings to $958,354.  Her career record stands at 7-2-0 in 10 races.

UNBEATEN HULL ZIPS FIVE FURLONGS IN PREAKNESS DRILL – Unbeaten Derby Trial (GIII) winner Hull tuned up for a possible run in the Preakness with a sharp five furlong work over a “fast” track on Sunday at Churchill Downs.
    Heiligbrodt Racing Stable, Team Valor International and Gary Barber’s 3-year-old son of 1994 “Horse of the Year” Holy Bull covered the distance in :59.40.  Jockey Miguel Mena was aboard for the “bullet” move that was the best of 35 at the distance.
    The Dale Romans-trained colt covered the distance in fractions of :23.20 and :35.20 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.80.
“He worked really good – I had him in :59-flat,” Romans said.  “It looked like he was doing it easy.”
    Romans said there’s no final decision at this point on whether Hull will run in Saturday’s second jewel of the Triple Crown at Pimlico.  He said the status of Kentucky Oaks winner Rachel Alexandra, who could be made a supplemental entry to the race, would be part of the discussion.
    “It makes it a tougher decision to go,” Romans said.  “We’re going to sit down and talk about it on Tuesday and see if we want to go up there and run against her.  Right now, I think we’re still gonna go, but we’ll see what happens.  She changes the dynamics of the whole race.”
    Hull figures to be prominent from the start if he runs in the Preakness, but Romans said Rachel Alexandra would figure to be close by at all points of the race.
    “She’s true speed that keeps on going,” he said.  “She’s real quality.  I don’t know it’s going to be for a filly to come back in two weeks – I think it’s harder for the fillies than it is for the colts.  But I’m sure if Steve (Asmussen) takes her over there, then she’s ready to go.”
    Romans had high hopes for Hull going into his stakes debut in the Derby Trial on April 25, which is run at Churchill Downs’ one-turn mile distance.   He was impressed by the colt’s effort in that four-length win and that’s why the 1 3/16-mile Preakness is being considered so strongly.
    “We knew he was good, but when you’re stepping up into stakes company for the first time there’s still some unknowns,” said Romans.  “But he proved he can run with anybody, because that was a solid field of horses.”

TERRAIN WORKS IN COMPANY FOR PREAKNESS  – Adele Dilschneider’s Terrain tuned up for a probable run in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes by working five furlongs in company with Map of the World in 1:02.60, 19th fastest of 35 at the distance.
With jockey Jamie Theriot up, Terrain broke off about two lengths behind Map of the World with Julien Leparoux up. Terrain drew even at the eighth pole and finished on even terms.
     “I had worked a few horses earlier in the morning and the track was fast. I didn’t want any lights out work,” trainer Al Stall Jr. said. “He is ready to run. He got dialed in today. I told Jamie just to sit behind him and when he chirped to him, he was right on him and they finished heads up. Jamie was happy with him.”
    Stall has not named a rider for Terrain for the Preakness.
    The work was the third for Terrain since his fourth-place finish in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (Grade I) on April 11. He had worked in :47.60 in company for a half-mile on April 24 at Keeneland and then turned in a :50.40 half while working solo on May 3, also at Keeneland.

GENERAL QUARTERS TO BREEZE ON MONDAY MORNING – With exercise rider Justin Court up, General Quarters galloped a mile and a half before the renovation break.
Owner/trainer Tom McCarthy plans to work the 10th-place Kentucky Derby finisher an easy half-mile Monday morning before the break with Court up.
“I just want to give him a little bit of a maintenance move,” McCarthy said. “I will breeze him a slow half, just something to take the edge off.”
General Quarters, winner of the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (Grade I), is scheduled to leave early Tuesday morning by van to Pimlico for the Preakness.

BAFFERT GETS HIS DERBY … A WEEK LATE – “I got my Derby,” a smiling Bob Baffert said Sunday morning upon his return to Churchill Downs after a successful foray to Texas where Peachtree Stable’s Mythical Power won Saturday’s Lone Star Derby (Grade III) by 7 ½ lengths.
The Derby that eluded Baffert the week before was, of course, Kentucky Derby 135 in which his Pioneerof the Nile finished second to Mine That Bird.
With exercise rider George Alvarez up, Pioneerof the Nile galloped a mile and a half after the renovation break.
“It was great to gallop on a fast track,” Baffert said.
Pioneerof the Nile is scheduled to work Monday morning, most likely after the renovation break. Joe Steiner, who handled Pioneerof the Nile’s two pre-Derby works here, is flying in to Louisville on Sunday night and is slated to be aboard in the morning.

BOOKEND DERBY FINISHERS GALLOP EARLY SUNDAY -- Galloped Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird and 19th-place finisher Flying Private both galloped before the renovation break Sunday morning at Churchill Downs.
Mine That Bird, owned by Double Eagle Ranch and Buena Suerte Equine, galloped a little more than two miles with exercise rider Charlie Figueroa up.
    “He’s doing super, as good as ever,” said Figueroa, who has been the regular morning exercise partner for Mine That Bird since arriving in Kentucky on April 21. “I know he hasn’t backed off. There is no regression at all.”
    Trainer Bennie “Chip” Woolley Jr. was pleased to see the first “fast” track in the morning since Wednesday.
    “I can’t believe how fast they can get it good here,” Woolley said of a track that went from “muddy” during the latter part of training hours Saturday to “fast” fewer than four hours later.
    Mine That Bird is scheduled to train here the next two mornings and leave for Pimlico around mid-morning on Tuesday.
    Trainer D. Wayne Lukas said that Flying Private, owned by Robert Baker and William Mack, would not train here Tuesday because of an early departure time by van for Pimlico.

BARN TALK – Stone Legacy, runner-up to Rachel Alexandra in the Kentucky Oaks, worked a half-mile in :49.20 after the renovation break. The move was the 27th fastest of 81. The D. Wayne Lukas trainee leaves Tuesday for Pimlico where she is scheduled to run in Friday’s Black-Eyed Susan (Grade II).
    Trainer Tom Amoss notched Churchill Downs career victory No. 299 in Saturday’s ninth race with a triumph by Double Espresso. Eight trainers have reached the 300-win plateau, led by Bill Mott’s 615. Amoss has three chances on Sunday’s card to join the club: Best Buddy in the second, I Know It’s True in the fourth and Mining for Silver in the eighth.

RACHEL ALEXANDRA MOVES TO NEW BARN – Stonestreet Stables and Harold McCormick’s new purchase Rachel Alexandra began her new life in the care of trainer Steve Asmussen on Thursday morning by galloping once around a sloppy Churchill Downs main track under exercise rider Dominic Terry.
    The dominating, 20 ¼-length winner of last Friday’s Kentucky Oaks (Grade I), Rachel Alexandra was sold by the L and M Partners of Dolphus Morrison and Michael Lauffer on Wednesday.  Rachel Alexandra was transferred from trainer Hal Wiggins’ barn to Asmussen’s at 5:15 (EDT) Thursday morning.
    Jess Jackson, who campaigned two-time Horse of the Year,2007 Preakness (GI) winner and 2008 Stephen Foster Handicap (GI) winner Curlin under his stable colors, was asked what he thought of the latest addition to his stable after her morning exercise.
    “She is a graceful athlete; she moves like a ballerina and has the size of some of the colts,” Jackson said. “I am looking forward to seeing her compete.”
    Jackson was asked when the “ballerina” might run next.
    “The ink is not even dry yet,” Jackson said. “The only decision was to bring her to Steve’s barn. No decision has been made on any race or a rider. Basically the same team is in place as we had with Curlin, and like Curlin, we will let her decide when she runs and where she runs.”
    Asmussen, who saddled Curlin to his Preakness victory, indicated that like most of his runners nine to 10 days after a race, Rachel Alexandra would have her first recorded workout on Sunday or Monday. Terry would be her regular exercise rider and she would go out in the second set, around 6:15, each morning.
    “She’s a tremendously fast filly,” Asmussen said. “Hal (Wiggins) and his team did a tremendous job with her. We just got her today and we have no timetable or any plans to announce at this time.”
    For Wiggins, Thursday was anything but business as usual.
    “They came and got her at 5:15,” Wiggins said. “I didn’t know anything about it (the sale) until Tuesday night. I hope I see her in the winner’s circle many more times.”
    Racing for Wiggins, Rachel Alexandra compiled a record of 10-7-2-0 with earnings of $958,354. In addition to the Kentucky Oaks triumph, Rachel Alexandra scored Grade II victories in the Fantasy, Fair Grounds Oaks and Golden Rod plus added runner-up finishes in the Grade III Pocahontas and Debutante at Churchill Downs.
    “It was pretty tough (this morning),” Wiggins said. “When a horse is injured, that’s tough, too. As a trainer, you never know what you will find (in the morning). We will get over it. We were blessed to have her and experience the joy of winning the Oaks here.
    “It will be a little hard walking by that stall,” Wiggins continued, knowing he will still see her on the track. “It will be a joy to see her. I’ll have a smile on my face and a good feeling. I wish the new owners nothing but the best. I know she is in good hands and they will do right by her. I will be pulling for her every time she runs.”    
 
MINE THAT BIRD CONTINUES PREAKNESS PREPARATIONS – Kentucky Derby 135 winner Mine That Bird galloped two times around the main track at Churchill Downs on Thursday morning before the renovation break with exercise rider Charlie Figueroa up.
    Trainer Bennie “Chip” Woolley Jr. expressed satisfaction with the morning activity and remains on track to bring Mine That Bird, owned by Double Eagle Ranch and Buena Suerte Equine, to Pimlico on Tuesday.
    “He is doing good and I am surprised how he has bounced back because he had to run hard,” Woolley said. “But he is pretty easy on himself and doesn’t pound the ground.”
    But the overriding issue Thursday morning was the possibility that Kentucky Oaks winner Rachel Alexandra could be supplemented to the Preakness and Woolley could possibly lose the services of jockey Calvin Borel, who swept the Oaks and Derby last weekend.
    “I hope they go to the Acorn (on June 6) with that mare,” Woolley said. “I told people that day (Derby Day) that I was glad she was not in the Derby.”    
    Woolley was bracing for the prospect of maybe losing his rider.
    “It’s a possibility; it could happen,” Woolley said. “But I don’t think I will have a hard time finding a rider if it happens.”

PREAKNESS PROBABLES GALLOP ON “SLOPPY” TRACK -- Zayat Stables’ Pioneerof the Nile galloped a mile and a half on a “sloppy” track after the renovation break with exercise rider George Alvarez up.
    Trainer Bob Baffert is scheduled to return to Louisville Saturday night and Pioneerof the Nile is tentatively slated to work Monday before shipping to Maryland on Wednesday if Baffert decides on a Preakness bid.
            Bo Hirsch’s Papa Clem galloped a mile and a half before the renovation break under exercise rider Mundo Gonzalez. The fourth-place Kentucky Derby finisher is scheduled to gallop again Friday and may leave for Pimlico later in the day or Saturday.
         Owner/trainer Tom McCarthy was happy with the mile and a half morning gallop from General Quarters before the renovation break, but he had a question for a bystander as exercise rider Julie Sheets brought the colt off the track.
    “What are they doing with that filly?” McCarthy asked referring to Rachel Alexandra. “She’s an awfully good filly.”
    Rachel Alexandra could be supplemented to the Preakness, but McCarthy is planning to head east on Tuesday.
    “I would hate not to go and have her not get in,” McCarthy said. “I went back and looked over the Oaks field and it didn’t look like she was facing the quality of competition that she will face in the Preakness.”
    McCarthy plans to gallop General Quarters the next five days, including next Tuesday before vanning to Baltimore.
    “I’d like to train here that morning if at all possible and then be able to jog Wednesday morning at Pimlico to allow him to get a feel for the track,” McCarthy said.
    Julien Leparoux, who was aboard in Kentucky Derby 135 in which General Quarters finished 10th, retains the mount for the Preakness.
        Robert Baker and William Mack’s Flying Private galloped shortly after the track opened Thursday morning at Churchill Downs with Taylor Carty up.
    Trainer D. Wayne Lukas said he likely would name a rider for Flying Private on Friday.
    Asked about the prospect of facing Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness, Lukas said: “I don’t like the idea at all. I’d like to run against the third-place finisher in the fifth at Beulah!”
       Adele Dilschneider’s Terrain galloped a mile and a half before the renovation break with exercise rider Jimmy Valdez up.
    Trainer Al Stall Jr. plans to work Terrain on Saturday or Sunday.
    “Looks like Sunday may be the work day,” Stall said as he monitored a Weather Channel forecast that called for rain the next three days in Louisville. “But we are in no rush. We have the luxury of time with five weeks (between the Toyota Blue Grass and the Preakness).”
       Trainer Dale Romans sent Heiligbrodt Racing Stable, Team Valor International and Gary Barber’s undefeated Hull out for a gallop after the renovation break.
    Asked if the presence of the speedy Rachel Alexandra might alter his Preakness plans for Hull, Romans said, “She might.”
    Hull is scheduled to work five furlongs on Saturday.

BARN TALK – Julien Leparoux rode two winners on Wednesday’s card to take a one-win lead (12-11) over Jamie Theriot in the race for leading rider. Leparoux’s career win total stands at 993 entering Thursday’s card.
    Trainer Al Stall Jr. said that B. Wayne Hughes’ My Pal Charlie has been nominated to the $600,000 Shadwell Metropolitan Handicap (Grade I) to be run May 25 at Belmont Park.
    “He came out of the race Derby Day (a runner-up finish in the Grade II Churchill Downs) in great shape,” Stall said. “A mile on the dirt may not be a bad way to go with him.”

Heiligbrodt Racing Stable and Team Valor International and Gary Barber’s undefeated Hull ran his winning streak to three with a four-length victory over Kensei in the 85th running of the $112,000 Derby Trial (Grade III) on opening day of the 52-day Churchill Downs Spring Meet.

Trained by Dale Romans, who posted his 20th career stakes victory at Churchill Downs, Hull swept past dueling leaders Silver City and Checklist at the head of the lane and then repulsed a late bid by Kensei, who was ridden by Robby Albarado.

Ridden by Miguel Mena, who scored his second career Churchill Downs stakes victory, Hull returned mutuels of $8.80, $5.40 and $4.40. Kensei, owned by Stonestreet Stables and Gulf Coast Racing, paid $13.80 and $7.40 in finishing 1 ¾ lengths ahead of  Starlight Partners’ Checklist, who held third over Rendezvous by a half-length under Shaun Bridgmohan, paying $9 to show.

Silver City and Checklist dueled through fractions of :21.78 and :44.29 with Hull racing three-wide just off the pace. Mena pulled even with the leading duo midway around the final turn and began opening daylight on Checklist as the field straightened for the wire.

Completing the field in order were favored Silver City, Gato Go Win, Santana Six and Tintim Por Tintim.  Time for the 7 ½ furlongs over a track rated “fast” was 1:30.21.

A Kentucky-bred son of Holy Bull out of the Chimes Band mare Band Queen, Hull’s victory was worth $67,357 and increased his career earnings to $107,800.

DERBY TRIAL STAKES QUOTES

DALE ROMANS (trainer of first-place finisher Hull) – “I loved what I saw out there today. He relaxed off the pace, and when the rider asked him to run, he really exploded. He’s as good as anybody around right now. He’s opened up in all three of his races. We entered in the Lexington but we had this race as our backup. Everything had to be perfect if he ran in that race (Lexington), because he was coming back so soon after the Turfway race (on April 2), and when he drew post 12, we didn’t hesitate to scratch him and point for this. We’ll take a look and see what happens in the Derby, who goes on from there and who doesn’t. The Preakness is a possibility for him right now.”

MIGUEL MENA (rider of first-place finisher Hull) – “It went great. There were really fast fractions, but he broke good and was in the bridle happy. I didn’t take to take him back and break his momentum.”

On handling the fast fractions and finishing:
“It’s just unbelievable. Not any horse can do it – only special horses.”

On how far Hull might be able to run:
“I breeze him in the morning and think he can run any distance.”

ROBBY ALBARADO (jockey of second-place finisher Kensei) – “I had a good trip. I was right in there behind the horse who was the eventual winner. We both kicked at the same time. He kicked away from me. The winner is a nice horse, but I like my horse, too.”

JULIEN LEPAROUX (jockey of fifth-place finisher and favored Silver City) – “He came away good and he ran hard early. He just got tired. That’s all.”