Whitney upsetter Moreno continues preparations for Woodward

Moreno returned to the main track

Thursday for the first time since upsetting the Grade 1 Whitney on August 2 at

Saratoga.

The four-year-old gelded son of Ghostzapper jogged two easy

miles Thursday and Friday and likely will stay on that regimen leading up to an

engagement in the Grade 1, $600,000 Woodward on August 30 at the Spa.

"He'll work seven days out (before the Woodward)," trainer Eric Guillot

said.

After breaking tardily in the Whitney, Moreno rushed

between horses to the lead under jockey Junior Alvarado and set measured

fractions of :47 2/5 for the half-mile, 1:11 1/5 for six furlongs and 1:35 2/5 for

the mile, always at least a length in front of the rest of the field.

He

repelled a challenge from Itsmyluckyday in the stretch and won by 1 1/4 lengths,

getting the 1 1/8 miles in 1:48.

The colorful Guillot said he has heard rumors that a

"rabbit" might be employed to occupy Moreno in the Woodward, and he said he

doesn't mind what the opposition plans.

"If they have to do that, it makes me feel great," he said.

"Do they not realize where I come from? I've been hunting rabbit all my life.

I've been skinning rabbit since I was a kid and eating a baloney sandwich with

the same hand. Do you think a rabbit's going to hurt me? Come on."

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