Union Rags tops busy Derby worktab in Louisville

Chadds Ford Stable's Union Rags was given his final serious preparation for

Kentucky Derby 138 Saturday morning during a five-furlong workout following the

renovation break at Churchill Downs.

With jockey Julien Leparoux aboard, Union Rags breezed the distance in :59

4/5, third fastest of 53 moves at the distance on the fast main track. The

Michael Matz colt posted fractions of :12, :23 3/5 and :47 1/5 and galloped out

six furlongs in 1:13 4/5.

"I thought he ran good. We wanted a strong work here and that was the plan

all along," Matz said. "I wished I could have seen it. All I saw was the front

part of it, the last quarter of a mile, but it looked like he went nice."

Leparoux gave Matz his thumbs up on the son of Dixie Union's first workout at

Churchill after shipping in from Keeneland on Thursday.

"He never says much. He said he galloped out real strong and said he thinks

he likes the track," Matz said. "That was the plan to do it a week ahead of time

and give him some time to recover. The gods were good. It didn't rain on us, so

it's up to him."

Matz, who saddled Barbaro for a commanding victory in the 2006 Kentucky

Derby, remarked how smoothly things have gone while preparing Union Rags along

the road to the Kentucky Derby.

"It's been amazing. Every time, we've been just one or two days off working

him. It's worked out perfectly," Matz said of the training program that was

rarely interrupted by bad weather. "Usually, when you try to get a horse to the

Derby and try to plan everything, something goes awry one way or another. He's

really been right on track."

Union Rags, who finished second behind Hansen in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile

at Churchill Downs in November, spent the winter at Palm Meadows Training Center

in Boynton Beach, Florida. He captured the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth by four

lengths in his 2012 debut before finishing a troubled third in the Grade 1

Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park.

"We wanted him to have a nice work. I think if Julien went out there and

wanted to go in :50 for the half-mile -- or :51 -- he could have done that,"

Matz said. "But now is the time to turn the screws a little title. This is it."

Donegal Racing's Dullahan, winner of the Grade 1 Blue Grass at Keeneland,

tuned up for Kentucky Derby 138 with a five-furlong breeze in 1:01 1/5.

Working under exercise rider Tammy Fox, Dullahan recorded fractions of :11

4/5, :23 4/5 and :36 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:15 4/5 for trainer Dale

Romans. It tied for the ninth fastest work of 53 at the distance. 

"The work was perfect," Romans said. "It was exactly what we were looking

for. We just wanted a nice maintenance breeze. He went in :57 and change at

Keeneland before the Blue Grass and then he ran in the Blue Grass and now he's

working two weeks later and going to run three weeks (after the Blue Grass), so

he's plenty fit and we just wanted him to stretch his legs a bit."

A chestnut son of Even the Score, Dullahan is a half-brother to Kentucky

Derby winner Mine That Bird, who closed from last to take the Run for the Roses

in 2009. Dullahan is also a deep closer and Romans said the race could set up

well for him.

"I like the way the race looks on paper for us," Romans said. "The Derby

seems to usually have an unreasonably fast pace and there are some fast horses

in there this year. The problem is those fast horses are quality and they could

just keep going. It'll be interesting to see how it all unfolds."

Dullahan will be ridden by three-time Kentucky Derby winning jockey Kent

Desormeaux, who has been aboard the Kentucky-bred colt in five of his eight

career starts.

Team Valor International and Mark Ford's Went the Day Well, outfitted with

blinkers, worked five furlongs in 1:01 with jockey John Velazquez up. The move

tied for the sixth fastest of 53 at the distance.

Working in company with Crimson China, a four-year-old stakes winner who

finished fifth in the Blue Grass last year, Went the Day Well started a length

behind his workmate and finished three lengths in front in fractions of :12 2/5,

:24 3/5, :36 2/5 and :48 4/5 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:14 3/5.

"I thought he went super," trainer Graham Motion said. "John felt that he was

better on the dirt here than he was last week on the synthetic (at Keeneland in

which he worked six furlongs in 1:14 2/5)."

Went the Day Well never has raced in blinkers, but the son of Proud Citizen

was outfitted with them Saturday morning.

"I put 'cheaters' on him and it seemed like it really helped him," Motion

said. "Last week at Keeneland, he was content to stay with Crimson China and

today he went right on by."

Would Went the Day Well wear blinkers in the Derby?

"I am going to have to talk to the stewards about that," Motion said. "He got

to loafing and almost interfered with a horse at Turfway (Park in winning the

Spiral). I think they made a difference today."

Went the Day Well comes into the Kentucky Derby off a victory in the Spiral,

just as stablemate Animal Kingdom did last year. Unlike Animal Kingdom, Went the

Day Well already is proven on dirt.

"He didn't have anything to prove (this morning)," Motion said. "With Animal

Kingdom, I talked with Barry (Irwin of Team Valor International) and if he had

not handled the dirt, he would not have run."

Animal Kingdom responded with a six-furlong work in 1:13 on the Saturday

before the Kentucky Derby.

Went the Day Well ran twice in 2011 finishing second in two grass races in

England. He made his U.S. debut in February on dirt at Gulfstream Park on

February 4, finishing fourth, and then broke his maiden four weeks later.

"His first race was typical for a European horse in that he was a step slow

out of the gate," Motion said. "After that first race, we considered taking him

to New York for the (Grade 3) Gotham. We took him to the airport and then turned

around and stayed for the maiden race."

Off the maiden victory, Went the Day Well took the Spiral by 3 1/2 lengths.

"It was a big step for him going from a maiden to a Grade 3," said Motion,

who will turn on the lights Saturday night for the opening night of the 39-day

spring meet. "I feel good about him and I feel good about running him in this

race. And, I feel a whole lot better after the work today."

John Oxley's Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby winner Prospective continued his

preparations for Derby 138 by breezing five furlongs in 1:01 1/5 for trainer

Mark Casse.

Working in company with Moon Traveler, a three-year-old maiden who is also

owned by Oxley, Prospective recorded fractions of :12 1/5, :24 4/5, :36 4/5 and

:49 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:14 4/5.

Shaun Bridgmohan was in the irons for Saturday's work, but Prospective, who

most recently finished sixth in the Blue Grass, will be ridden by Luis Contreras

on Derby Day.

"I thought it was perfect," Casse said. "I told Shaun to go 1:01 and he went

1:01 1/5. He told me he was magnificent. The horse he worked with is not a bad

horse and I was surprised how easily Prospective worked away from him. I've said

all along I think this horse likes Churchill. We're ready."

Prospective crossed the wire about three lengths in front of his workmate,

who was given a five-furlong time of 1:01 4/5.

At the nearby Trackside Training Center, Kendall Hansen and Skychai Racing's

Hansen breezed five furlongs in 1:01 1/5 in company.

In a work that resembled a handoff in a relay race in track and field, Hansen

engaged stablemate Derby Kitten, who was waiting in the stretch, the two ran

together for about a quarter-mile and the four-year-old Derby Kitten continued

on with his half-mile breeze.

The split times for Hansen's breeze under Joel Barrientos were :12 1/5, :24

3/5, :36 3/5 and :49 1/5. The 2011 juvenile male champion galloped out six

furlongs in 1:15.

Trainer Mike Maker deemed the work -- which he joked that he dreamed up

himself -- a success.

"We're trying to harness the speed, so if we put a workmate with him from the

starting point of the work he has a tendency to be very aggressive," Maker said.

"So we just sprinkled it in the last part."

Rather than trying to synch things at a specific pole, Maker said he told the

rider on Derby Kitten to begin his work when he hooked up with Hansen.

"Basically, the plan was to try to get Hansen to go soft the first

three-eighths, which he did, and then just finish up his last quarter, which he

did," Maker said.

Hansen galloped out through most of the backstretch of the six-furlong track

after completing his breeze.

After cooling out, the Tapit colt was taken to a sand pit at the training

center where he was allowed to spend several minutes frolicking and rolling in

the sand.