Free Drop Billy ‘perfect’ in sizzling final breeze for Belmont

by NYRA Press Office

Relatively out of the limelight, Albaugh Family Stable’s Free Drop Billy turned in another dazzling workout Sunday morning in advance of the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes. Swooping through the Churchill Downs stretch, Free Drop Billy was clocked working five furlongs in a strong 59 1/5 seconds, with splits of 11 3/5 seconds for an eighth-mile, 23 for the quarter-mile, 34 2/5 for three-eighths and 46 4/5 for the half-mile, then unleashing a powerful six-furlong gallop-out in 1:12 4/5.

“He worked really well today,” Romans said of Billy. “He did it all on his own and worked fast, galloped out strong and looks healthy and happy walking back. I wanted him to run along, stretch his lungs a little bit but [there was] no time that we had to have. But it looked perfect. He had a lot of horse, and he did it easy on his own. It was fast but under control.”

Even on a morning when he was the only Belmont Stakes horse working at Churchill Downs, Free Drop Billy was somewhat overshadowed by Kentucky Oaks heroine Monomoy Girl working for Saturday’s Grade 1 Acorn and Triple Crown aspirant Justify’s gallop.

Romans doesn’t take it personally if Free Drop Billy isn’t getting a lot of respect.

“Naw, he flopped in the Derby, we really don’t know why,” he said of Free Drop Billy’s 16th-place finish. “But I’ve seen him bounce back before. He didn’t run real well in the Breeders’ Cup and he came back and ran well all spring.”

After winning Keeneland’s Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity, Free Drop Billy struggled home ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar. In three Derby preps, he was second in Gulfstream Park’s Grade 2 Holy Bull won by eventual Florida Derby winner Audible and third in both Aqueduct’s Grade 3 Gotham and Keeneland’s Grade 2 Blue Grass, the latter the result of being moved up a position after being impeded by a horse.

“He’s training so well,” Romans said. “He’s always been consistent. Throw out the two races and he’s hit the board every time, and the mile and a half might be the difference-maker. You don’t know if the others will like it, and his pedigree says he should. But you don’t know until you try.”

Romans trained the only horse to defeat 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah as a 3-year-old when Keen Ice won Saratoga’s Grade 1 Travers. Keen Ice had finished behind American Pharoah in the Derby, Belmont and Haskell Invitational until pulling off the upset by three-quarters of a length. Now the trainer relishes potentially playing spoiler as his good friend Bob Baffert attempts to sweep the Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes for the second time in four years.

“I’d love to upset him in the Belmont,” he said. “The thing about the Travers was, it was surprising how many people cheered the horse and cheered us walking back. I thought they’d all be booing us when America’s horse got beat. It just shows you how smart racing fans are up in New York. I think they’ll be cheering a good performance, no matter who it is.”

Romans said he’s still undecided whether to run Promises Fulfilled, Gulfstream Park’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth winner, in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun at seven furlongs or the $150,000 Easy Goer at 1 1/16 miles. He said he will study the prospective fields before making a decision.

Free Drop Billy and Promises Fulfilled are to fly to New York Wednesday. Robby Albarado has the Belmont Stakes mount.