Tapiture, Hoppertunity work in driving rain storm

"You just do what you do," Asmussen said. "It's very comfortable to be here

at Churchill. This racetrack handles water amazingly. It gives you a lot of

confidence having had several horses run a lot in the afternoons here over the

last 15 years or so."

Sheets of rain blew sideways and a deafening crack of lightning, which may

have been the one that knocked out a bank of lights on the far turn, marked the

start of the work as the Tapit colt broke off from the half-mile pole. Unfazed

by the weather and seemingly relishing the sloppy surface, Tapiture stayed well

off the rail, rolled through an opening quarter in :24 3/5 and finished the

four-furlong move in :50. Clockers caught the five-furlong gallop-out in 1:04

4/5.

The work unfolded at 6:30 a.m. and by 6:45 Churchill official suspended

training temporarily because of the dangerous circumstances.

Back at Barn 38, as the storm picked up yet again, Asmussen welcomed soaking

reporters under the dry cover of his shedrow.

"I'm very happy to get it in," Asmussen said. "I loved how he moved over it.

I can't say enough about Abel, under those conditions, being able to do what we

wanted. He hit 50 right on and that's what we were aiming for with the horse."

Asmussen typically does not ask much of his workers in their final work

before an important stakes engagement.

"He's got a beautiful stride to him," the trainer said. "He's an extremely

efficient mover. I'm definitely happy to get it in before they announced the

track's closed."

"I sent him out because I was worried about these storms coming in," Baffert

said. "Then they said they were going to float the track and they said there was

going to be one renovation then and none later. So I was in a little bit of a

panic mode and called the audible to go with the filly first if it was good and

safe.

"Then I brought him out and he worked really well with Drill. Usually Drill

wouldn't work well on this and today he did. He's a really good work horse. We

gave him a little bit of a head start this time -- the last time Drill went to

the eighth pole and didn't want to work, but today he stayed with him. They work

together all the time and what they did today was a normal work.

"It was a good work. I'm glad I got the work in. He (Hoppertunity) looked

great. He was reaching out well. Got it in and got it out of the way. I can

relax now, sit around and go buy my tickets."

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