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Derby contenders continue preparations While the Todd Pletcher-trained DUNKIRK (Unbridled's Song) worked in Florida on Saturday, two of his stablemates turned in more routine bits of morning exercise at Churchill Downs. Lexington S. (G2) winner ADVICE (Chapel Royal) and Tampa Bay Derby (G3) runner-up JOIN IN THE DANCE (Sky Mesa) each galloped 1 3/8 miles under exercise rider Kevin Willey. Advice is scheduled to have his final blowout toward his possible Derby start on Monday. To this point, no rider has been assigned to the WinStar Farm colt. Join in the Dance is currently ranked 21st on the graded stakes list and would need a defection before Wednesday to get in. If he gets to run, Join in the Dance would likely be a pace factor in Derby 135. El Camino Real Derby (G3) victor CHOCOLATE CANDY (Candy Ride [Arg]), a big bay colt with a mellow disposition, came trackside under exercise rider Lindsey Molina Saturday at 7 a.m. (EDT), but wasn't in any rush. He stepped into the clearing near the six-furlong chute and stopped to look around. He moved forward a few yards and halted to take it all in again. And then he did it once more before walking through the chute and going about his business. "He's such a big, easy-goin' fella," said Galen May, assistant to trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. "Nothing bothers him. That's why I like him so much." Chocolate Candy took a tour of the paddock, then galloped a solid 1 1/2 miles, doing it in his low-key style out in the middle of the track. Hollendorfer, the king of Northern California racing, is scheduled to travel to Louisville on Sunday. Smarty Jones S. romper FLAT OUT (Flatter) was taken to the Hagyard-Davis Equine Clinic near Lexington, Kentucky, on Friday afternoon and underwent a precautionary scan Saturday morning. "He's fit and there is no problem," trainer Charles "Scooter" Dickey said. He said the owners just wanted the scan as a precaution to make sure the heel bruise he suffered in the February 16 Southwest S. (G3) is not redeveloping. Flat Out is scheduled to return to Churchill Downs early Sunday morning in hopes of making it on the track before training hours are over. He is currently 22nd on the graded earnings list and needs a couple of defections in order to make the field for Derby 135.
Blue Grass S. (G1) hero GENERAL QUARTERS (Sky Mesa) galloped 1 1/2 miles just after 7:30 a.m., tugging at exercise rider Julie Sheets. Saturday's routine will become "routine" for the gray colt, who had what is expected to be his final Derby 135 workout on Thursday. Owner-trainer Tom McCarthy said General Quarters will gallop up to the Derby in all likelihood. General Quarters was calm and composed walking to and from the track, led by hand by McCarthy, a retired Louisville teacher and principal who has become the Derby darling of 2009. On Friday night McCarthy was featured on ABC World News with Charles Gibson as the newscast's "Person of the Week." "The phone has been ringing off the hook in all honesty," McCarthy said of his recent fame. "Old friends, people I haven't heard from in years, they're all calling. It's great, but it has not changed me. I just go on every day and keep doing what I do. Hope springs eternal. Everybody who trains horses hopes someday to be here. We're going to enjoy it." General Quarters likely will become the most famous one-horse stable in America over the next seven days. But he won't fly solo for long. McCarthy said he has a two-year-old filly, Miss Sunshine (Smarty Jones), ready to come to the track this summer after the Derby hubbub subsides.
Wood Memorial (G1) star I WANT REVENGE (Stephen Got Even) galloped two miles Saturday morning with regular exercise rider Joe Deegan aboard. Bobby Troeger, assistant to trainer Jeff Mullins, supervised the exercise. He said that Mullins was en route from California and was expected to arrive in Louisville at 7 p.m. Saturday. I Want Revenge has been working on Tuesdays the past month, and is expected to have his final Derby breeze this Tuesday. He's worked twice at Churchill Downs, a 1:01 3/5 breeze going five furlongs on April 21 and a :50 half-mile on April 14. Canadian champion juvenile MINE THAT BIRD (Birdstone) logged two miles Saturday morning, jogging a quarter-mile before galloping 1 3/4 miles under exercise rider Charlie Figueroa. "He looks like he's getting over the ground a little better than yesterday and better than the day before," trainer Chip Woolley said. "That's what we're hoping to see -- him getting better each day until next Saturday." Mine That Bird will breeze five furlongs Monday (approximately 8:50 a.m.) with Calvin Borel in the irons. Woolley said that he never has had Borel aboard one of his horses in a race, but that the rider of 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense makes a lot of sense. "We just weighed our options of riders out there and kept coming back to him," Woolley said. "I've always liked him and thought he'd fit this horse. He's patient and that's the trip we're likely to get if we're to do any good in the Derby." Woolley has spent much of his training career with Quarter Horses, but said the increased chances to run Thoroughbreds in slots-rich New Mexico was part of the reason his stable has branched out in breeds in recent years. "The Quarter Horse game can be awfully tough," he added. "You do everything right; but one bad break, and you're done. It's different with Thoroughbred racing. Look at I Want Revenge in the Wood. He stumbled, but still had a chance to run to his ability. In Quarter Horse racing, he would have been done in at the start." Santa Anita Derby (G1) third MR. HOT STUFF (Tiznow) will put in his final Kentucky Derby drill Sunday morning at his Santa Anita base. "He'll go five -ighths with one of our exercise riders up," said his trainer, Eoin Harty, via phone, from a working trip in Chicago. "We'll work him tomorrow and he'll fly out Monday. I'll be flying to Louisville Sunday afternoon." Mr. Hot Stuff is still missing a jockey for Derby 135 after his regular rider, Corey Nakatani, chose to jump ship and ride Square Eddie (Smart Strike). "We don't have a rider yet," Harty said, "but we've got lots of time to get one. We will. You can be sure of that."
"But he's in a tough race with some nice horses and we'll need some luck. Twenty horses; anything can happen. We'll need some luck." Pioneerof the Nile, a winner of five of his eight starts and $1,234,200, is scheduled to have his final Derby work Monday morning. SQUARE EDDIE was out for a very easy jog once around the Churchill oval Saturday morning at 6:30. Exercise rider Tony Romero did the honors, moving easily alongside a big pony. "Nice and easy today," said assistant trainer Leandro Mora, who is holding down the fort until chief trainer Doug O'Neill makes the scene. "He's going to work tomorrow morning after the break, so we want him fresh for that." Mora wasn't sure whether or not his new rider, Corey Nakatani, would be coming from California for the Sunday morning work. Square Eddie announced his return to the racing wars with a swooping move to the front in the Lexington on April 18 at Keeneland, only to fall back and finish third behind winner Advice. That start was the first in three months for Square Eddie, who last year won the Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland and then finished second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Santa Anita. Mora noted that Square Eddie's conditioning for his comeback has been supplemented by "swimming" on an equine treadmill. "His work routine wouldn't have been enough to get him ready for this race on his own," he stated. "The swimming has been a big help. In fact, we're going back over to Keeneland with him this afternoon and let him swim for 45 minutes or so. We'll try to keep that up during the week, but it may be that we won't be able to take him out of here (because of security concerns) as we get closer to the race. But we'll keep swimming him as long as we can. He loves it." Mora, a veteran of the Southern California racing scene, remembered another case of a swimming Derby horse.
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