Stay Thirsty, Decisive Moment post half-mile drills under
the Twin Spires
Repole Stable’s Stay Thirsty and Just for Fun Stable’s Decisive Moment turned in strong efforts at Churchill Downs on Sunday
in their first works of the spring on the track over which the famed Grade 1 Kentucky
Derby will be run on May 7.
Grade 3 Spiral runner-up Decisive Moment and Stay Thirsty, winner of the
Grade 3 Gotham, both worked four furlongs after the midmorning break for track
maintenance and turned in the two fastest works of the day at the distance.
Decisive Moment, ridden by jockey Jesus Castanon, worked his half-mile in a
bullet :47 2/5 for trainer Juan Arias. The Panamanian native and a former
jockey, who is now based at Calder, was very pleased by what he described as an
out-of-character move by the three-year-old. Churchill clockers caught Decisive
Moment in fractional times of :11 4/5, :23 2/5 and :35 3/5.
“It was very impressive — he’s not really a ‘morning horse,'” Arias said.
“He never worked this good before. I don’t know if he just liked this surface
better or the weather, but I wasn’t expecting him to breeze this good this good.
“He’s the type of horse that you can get more out of him in gallops than you
can in works. Today he showed me a different way all around, because today I
really got more out of this work.”
Decisive Moment, winner of the Jean Lafitte at Delta Downs, has a career
record of 2-2-3 in eight races with earnings of $527,330. He has earned $301,000
of that total in graded stakes races.
The Todd Pletcher-trained Stay Thirsty, working with stablemate and Grade 3 Swale
winner Travelin Man, covered the half-mile distance in :48, which
tied as the second fastest work on a cool, breezy spring morning. Travelin Man,
who is being pointed toward the Grade 3 Derby Trial on the April 30 opening night
program at Churchill, worked on the rail with Stay Thirsty to his outside as the
duo made their way over the track that was rated as muddy following daylong
rains on Saturday.
Stay Thirsty, who finished a disappointing seventh in the Grade 1 Florida Derby,
continued what assistant trainer Michael McCarthy described as a good stay at
Churchill Downs since he shipped north following the Florida Derby. He finished
in front of his workmate and the duo worked in fractional times of :12 2/5, :24
and :36. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:01 1/5 and six furlongs in 1:15 4/5.
“It was a textbook work,” McCarthy said. “The horse is doing well. He’s had a
good couple of weeks here. He’ll have a few more works before the Derby, but
everything is going the right way right now.”
McCarthy said the reason for the poor effort in the Florida Derby remains a
mystery, so the Pletcher team is drawing a line through that race.
“I think there were a lot of horses you probably had to draw a line through
(their races) in the Florida Derby,” McCarthy said. “The horse acts to us here
like he’s going the right way. He enjoys the surface, he enjoys being here. His
appetite is good, his attitude is good.”
Stay Thirsty’s career record stands at 2-2-0 in six races with earnings of
$300,000 that include $260,000 collected in graded events.
In other Kentucky Derby news:
Repole Stable’s Uncle Mo, the heavy Kentucky Derby 137
favorite until his upset loss to Toby’s Corner in last Saturday’s
Grade 1 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, and Grade 2 Risen Star winner Mucho Macho Man are scheduled to arrive at Churchill Downs on Monday to continue
their preparation for the Run for the Roses.
Reigning two-year-old champion Uncle Mo, the Pletcher-trained winner of last
fall’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs, will travel to Louisville
on a flight from New York that will also carry E. Paul Robsham Stable’s R Heat
Lightning, victress of the Grade 2 Gulfstream Oaks and possible favorite
for the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on May 6. The plane is scheduled to touch down at
Louisville International Airport at 8:45 a.m. (EDT) and the van carrying Uncle
Mo and R Heat Lightning from the airport is expected to arrive at Pletcher’s
barn approximately a half hour later.
The Kathy Ritvo-trained Mucho Macho Man will travel from Florida by van and
is expected to pass through the Churchill Downs stable gate around 6 a.m. The
bay colt will be stabled in Barn 41 in the same stall occupied last fall by
Horse of the Year Zenyatta when she came to Churchill Downs for her runner-up
finish to Blame in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Mucho Macho Man is owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Dream Team Racing
Stable. He worked seven furlongs in 1:23 3/5 on Saturday at Gulfstream Park.