Santa Anita Oaks heroine Beholder went trackside at Churchill Downs Sunday
morning at 7 a.m. (EDT) following her flight from her California headquarters on
Saturday.
On her back was former jockey and current exercise rider David Neusch and at
her side was her Hall of Fame conditioner, Richard Mandella, who like his
two-year-old filly champion has set up shop in Kentucky for the week with
Friday’s Kentucky Oaks squarely in their sights.
“We galloped her a mile and one eighth,” Mandella said afterward, which just
happens to be the same distance she’ll be asked to run in the $1 million
Kentucky Oaks.
“We might let her pick up her gallop a little bit later in the week, but I’m
pretty happy with where we are right now. I worked her seven-eighths at Santa
Anita (last Thursday in 1:27 4/5) and that’s about all we had left to do.”
Beholder, owned by the Spendthrift Farm of B. Wayne Hughes and a half-sister
to the farm’s successful young stallion Into Mischief, has banked more than $1.5
million in her brief career thus far, including five wins (three of them Grade 1
stakes) in eight starts. She’ll once again be handled Friday by Garrett Gomez,
the only rider she’s ever known.
Jockey Rosie Napravnik, who picked up the mount on Seaneen Girl for the Oaks,
will be working her shortly after the track opens for training Monday morning,
trainer Bernie Flint said Sunday.
“I’m going to use the jockey this time as we get close to the race,” Flint
said.
Martin Garcia rode Seaneen Girl when she finished third in the Fair Grounds
Oaks in her most recent start.
“I’m probably going to gallop a mile and work her a half a mile, said Flint,
who trains Seaneen Girl for Naveed Chowhan.
“She’s not small,” Flint said of Seaneen Girl, a chestnut daughter of Spring
at Last. “She’s not big. She’s an average-sized horse. If you’re looking for a
middle-of-the-road horse, that’s what you’re looking for.”
Flint said that Seaneen Girl stands 15 hands, 2 to 3 inches.
“But she’s only two,” he said. “She won’t turn three until after the race.
She was born in the latter part of May, like the 18th of May. She’s just a baby.
I keep trying to tell that to people. You can’t keep on hammering on (her).
“But then again, there’s an advantage to that. They stay sound, hopefully.
She’s an athlete, and she loves the track. She loves the place.
“I know she’s going to love Rosie. As far as I’m concerned, she will. She’s a
great rider. She’s on a good horse. You can’t ask for no more.”
Under exercise rider Edward “Rocky” Seely, Seaneen Girl galloped Sunday
during the training time reserved for Derby/Oaks runners. Flint said he does
look at the competition.
“I just shake my head and walk back; that’s all,” he said. “I feel like Mine
That Bird against all those Derby horses, you know. It makes me feel that way.
He was just an average-sized, little horse. He wasn’t an average-sized horse. He
was a little horse. Now, she’s an average-sized filly … but I look at them.
“I see them go around there — everybody’s out there at the same time.
They’re all going around there. You look. ‘Look at this one. Look at this one.’
“But my mare floats along the ground. She loves the place. Horses for courses
I’ve said, and I’m going to say it again. It’s got to be beneficial to us. I’m
just sure it’s going to be that way. I’ve got that feeling.”
In Seaneen Girl’s only start at Churchill, where she has been based since
being purchased privately last fall, she won the Golden Rod on November 24 in
her 2012 finale.
The Todd Pletcher Oaks contingent all came out of their Saturday works well
and went back to the racetrack Sunday morning when fears of an “off” track and
unsavory weather conditions proved not true.
Gulfstream Oaks conqueror Dreaming of Julia, Bourbonette Oaks heroine Silsita
and Fair Grounds Oaks star Unlimited Budget jogged a mile on the Churchill Downs
strip, which was termed “good” for their pre-break exercise. Stablemate Princess
of Sylmar, second in the Gazelle Stakes last out, galloped a mile.
“Everyone is doing well,” Pletcher said.
Riding assignments on the trainer’s Oaks runners are locked in: John
Velazquez for Dreaming of Julia, Gary Stevens for Silsita, Javier Castellano for
Unlimited Budget and Mike Smith for Princess of Sylmar.
Pletcher will be seeking his third Kentucky Oaks victory. He won with two
champions previously — Ashado in 2004 and Rags to Riches in 2007.
Magdalena Racing’s Pure Fun walked the shedrow at Barn 6, which is standard
protocol for trainer Ken McPeek on Sundays.
“We give them an easy day, for the help and the horses,” assistant
trainer Phil Bauer said.
Pure Fun will not post an official breeze coming into the Oaks. The Pure
Prize filly raced versus males in the Lexington on April 20, finishing seventh,
and does not require much in the way of additional conditioning to run back 13
days later.
“She might do an aggressive gallop here or there this week but there are no
works planned at this point,” Bauer said. “She seems to be hitting the ground
good here.”
Pure Fun, winner of the Hollywood Starlet in December, will be back on the
track Monday at 8:30 a.m. during the Derby and Oaks training session.
Kathleen Amaya and Raffaele Centrofanti’s Rose to Gold walked the shedrow at
Barn 43 on Sunday morning.
A three-time Grade 3 winner, Rose to Gold is scheduled to return to the track
Monday after walking two days following a half-mile work in :47 4/5 under
jockey Calvin Borel. That move tied for the second fastest of 52 that day at the
distance.
Trainer Sal Santoro is scheduled to arrive in Louisville, Kentucky, Monday
night and be at the barn Tuesday.
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