Normandy Invasion, McPeek pair drill five furlongs

Brown said the Tapit colt has been eager to train but settled down after

getting away to a sharp start to the work.

"He's just feeling good. I'm good with it," Brown said. "Hopefully he has an

uneventful week leading up to the Derby."

Magic City Thoroughbred Partners' Frac Daddy and Charles Fipke's Java's

War worked five furlongs in company following the renovation break Saturday

morning. Frac Daddy, running on the rail with jockey Victor Lebron up, and

Java's War, positioned on the outside by exercise rider Marvin Abrego, were

timed in 1:02.

Frac Daddy had given his trainer high hopes for this year's Derby when he

concluded his two-year-old campaign with a sharp second-place finish in the

Kentucky Jockey Club over the Churchill track.

"He likes this racetrack. The timing is right," McPeek said. "He likes this

surface. We're encouraged."

While McPeek is looking for Frac Daddy to show further improvement in the

Derby, McPeek said he'd be happy to see Java's War maintain his sharp form.

"Frac Daddy is definitely getting better. The horse is just a big, strong,

serious type of horse -- a big-bodied horse, too," McPeek said. "Java, if we can

just maintain his form, I think we're good there."

Louisiana Derby runner-up Mylute, with jockey Rosie Napravnik riding, breezed

a half-mile solo early Saturday morning in :50 3/5, tying for the 59th fastest

of 70 workouts at the distance.

"I think the Louisiana Derby, looking back on it, ends up being a key race,"

Amoss said. "You look at some of the horses that came out of

there. Departing has now won the Illinois Derby, Palace Malice second in

the Blue Grass, so I think the Louisiana Derby is a legitimate race."

Amoss is participating in his third Kentucky Derby. His previous Derby horses

were Lone Star Sky (15th in 2003) and Backtalk (20th in 2010).

"I think the most important thing, having run two horses in the Kentucky Derby

so far … is to not get caught up in anything other than what your job is, which

as a trainer, my job is to bring a horse into the race the way I think is best,"

Amoss said.

"Not to try to do anything to impress anybody, but to do it my way,

and at the end of the day, being able to say, 'Hey, he won or lost or ran well

or didn't run well because of how I trained him.'"

A trainer can get caught up "in wanting to have the media talk well of your

horse, and work well, and read a line or two that says, 'This horse is doing

great,"' Amoss said. "I've got no interest in that anymore."

Trainer Kelly Breen supervised the half-mile work by Sterling Racing's Black

Onyx at 7:30 Saturday morning, then headed back to New York to saddle a horse in

a stakes at Belmont Park later in the day.

Jockey Joe Bravo was aboard

Black Onyx for the half-mile breeze in :48 3/5. The colt started the work

eight lengths behind Nowhere to Hide and finished a length ahead. The split

times were :12 1/5, :24 1/5 and :36 1/5. He galloped out five furlongs in

1:02 2/5. Nowhere to Hide, now trained by David Fawkes, finished 17th in the 2009

Kentucky Derby won by Mine That Bird. The seven-year-old veteran completed

his half-mile in :50 1/5.

"It was a good workout," Breen said. "We weren't looking to go too fast. We know

what the horse is able to do and we want to just keep him doing what he did

before his previous wins. He worked a comfortable :48 3/5. I caught him in :48

2/5 and he finished up in :24 flat. It was a nice workout."

Black Onyx has won both of his starts since being moved into Breen's care this

year. He earned his trip to the Derby with a  1 1/2-length victory in the

Spiral Stakes on March 23 at Turfway Park.

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