Brass Hat preps for Clark

Brass Hat is firing on all cylinders in advance of the Clark (Fair Grounds/Lou Hodges Photo)

Under jockey Willie Martinez, Grade 1 winner BRASS HAT (Prized) breezed five
furlongs in 1:00 3/5 on a fast track at Churchill Downs on Friday in preparation
for the Clark H. (G2) on November 23. The move was the third fastest of 39 works
at the distance. It was Brass Hat’s second work since he finished eighth in the
Fayette S. (G3) on October 27 at Keeneland.

“I debated whether to take the blinkers off and work him in company, but I
decided to leave them on to keep him focused and I wanted him to finish well,”
trainer William “Buff” Bradley said. “He was clicking off his last eighths in 11
and change and he galloped out in 1:13 4/5. He wasn’t blowing at all when he
came back.”

Brass Hat has won eight of 20 starts and $1,582,451. Martinez has been aboard
the gelding in his last 14 races.

“He’s been like an ATM for us,” Martinez said. “When he shows up, he shows
up big.”

Martinez has ridden Brass Hat ever since the 2004 Ohio Derby (G2), a race
they won by three lengths.

“He means a great deal to Buff and his family and he means a great deal to
me,” Martinez said. “He has taken me places I never thought I’d go. It
has been a
great ride; one dream after another.”

Brass Hat was sidelined for more than a year after fracturing a sesamoid in
his right front leg in the summer of 2006. Since then, Martinez has noticed a
slight change in the six-year-old.