Justify gets walk day on quiet morning at Churchill for Belmont horses | Belmont Stakes
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May 30, 2018

Justify gets walk day on quiet morning at Churchill for Belmont horses



It was a quiet morning for Belmont Stakes horses at Churchill Downs on Wednesday, with Triple Crown hopeful Justify and his Belmont-bound stablemate Restoring Hope having a walk day in the barn following Tuesday’s workouts.

Jimmy Barnes, assistant to trainer Bob Baffert, reported all was well with Justify, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner who worked a half-mile in 46 4/5 seconds with a strong gallop-out a day earlier, as well as Restoring Hope, who had a seven-eighths of a mile work in 1:26.

Justify’s jockey Mike Smith will wear the red and yellow silks of China Horse Club International in the Belmont Stakes after sporting WinStar Farm’s white and green colors in the Derby and Preakness. Justify’s other owners are Louisville-based Starlight Racing and Head of Plains Partners.

Justify and Restoring Hope are scheduled to fly to New York on Wednesday, June 6.

Meanwhile, late-swooping Preakness runner-up Bravazo jogged two miles under Danielle Rosier. Trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Calumet Farm’s son of Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Awesome Again is expected to have his lone timed workout before the Belmont Stakes on Thursday “as long as the weather doesn’t stop us.”

Lukas said he plans to send Bravazo to the track during the 7:30-7:40 a.m. time slot reserved for Belmont Stakes horses but could move it up to 5:30, when the track opens, depending on weather.

Bravazo will van with Warrior’s Club, who is running in the Grade 1, $1.2 million Runhappy Metropolitan Mile, to New York Monday.

Albaugh Family Stables’ Free Drop Billy had his first day back to the track since working five-eighths of a mile in 59 3/5 seconds Monday, jogging two miles under exercise rider Juan Segundo.

Trainer Dale Romans confirmed that Robby Albarado will have the Belmont Stakes mount on Free Drop Billy, a Grade 1 winner at age 2 who finished 16th in the Kentucky Derby after taking third in Keeneland’s Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass and Aqueduct’s Grade 3 Gotham and second in Gulfstream Park’s Grade 2 Holy Bull.

“In my opinion, he’s still one of the best riders in the country,” Romans said of Albarado, a finalist on the 2018 Hall of Fame ballot. “And for big-money races, he’s the man I want.”

Romans said he remains undecided whether to run Gulfstream Park’s front-running Grade 2 Fountain of Youth winner Promises Fulfilled in the Grade 2, $400,000 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun at seven-eighths of a mile or in the $150,000 Easy Goer at 1 1/16 miles on the Belmont Stakes card. He said plans for King Zachary, owned by Louisvillian Tom Conway, now call for the Churchill Downs allowance winner to run in that track’s Grade 3 Matt Winn Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on June 16.

Romans plans to fly his horses to Belmont on Wednesday, June 6.

Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Tenfold, third by a total of three-quarters of a length in the Preakness, galloped 1 1/8 miles under Angel Garcia after getting a day off Tuesday.

“The horse is doing good,” said Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen.

Asmussen said Tenfold is scheduled to work five-eighths of a mile Saturday and that he’s looking for a nice, relaxed move in “1:01 and change, 1:02” in preparation for running Belmont Park’s 1 ½ mile circumference.

“It’s who he is physically and the rhythm I want him in that I think will be most effective in the Belmont for him,” Asmussen, who frequently works his Saturday stakes horses on Mondays, said of the workout design and timing. “…. He’s just going to have to be big, relaxed and cover the ground with the frame that he has.”

Tenfold and other Churchill-based Asmussen horses running at Belmont will fly to New York on Tuesday, he said.


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