Winchell Thoroughbreds’ Epicenter (Not this time) remains the target for GI Preakness S. on Saturday after a 1/2-mile gallop at Churchill Downs on Sunday morning.
“He seemed pretty sharp,” said Scott Blasi, who oversees coach Steve Asmussen’s Churchill division, of GI Kentucky Derby runner-up and likely Preakness favorite. “I like the way he does it. Today he galloped like that was nothing; Step off the track with good energy. We’ll do a little work for him and go. Not much to do from here on…. [but] Victory.”
Epicenter took the lead in the middle of the Derby before being 80-1 overtaken by Rich Strike (Keen Ice).
When asked if defeat hurt, Blasi said: “If you don’t learn to turn the tide in this match, you’re going to be a miserable human being. What is past is past. Go ahead. ”
Epicenter is expected to have a half-mile easy job at Churchill on Monday before setting off for Baltimore on Tuesday.
Asmussen won the 2007 Preakness with the 2007-2008 Horse of the Year Curlin and in 2009 with Rachel Alexandra’s Horse of the Year.
Un Ojo (Laoban), the winner of the GII Rebel S.
“The next day when we didn’t come in [the Derby], he’s pretty good,” coach Ricky Courville said by phone from his Copper Crowne Training Center facility in Opelousas, Louisiana on Sunday. “We had a foot bath for a couple of days and on Tuesday morning he was really well. We’re just giving him the rest of the week, a dip, a reassurance, and continuing to get him back on the Derby track tomorrow morning. He has been training ever since. It’s just unlucky. Second [entry day] he’s not 100%; Third is him. ”
Calumet’s Farm Jack is happy (Oxbow) will make a quick return to the Preakness after a 14th-place effort in the Kentucky Derby.
“In a Derby, you’re trying to move 1 1/4 mile away from 19 other horses,” says trainer Doug O’Neill, who won the 2012 Preakness with I’ll Have Another. “By turning off the flash, I think it gives him a chance to let off some steam.”
Happy Jack wore flash shirts at the start of his career and broke his maidenhood at Santa Anita January 22. O’Neill kept them in GIII February 6. Robert B. Lewis and the pony finished last in field five, beating 27 1/4 lengths. The hood appeared in GII San Felipe S. March 5, and Happy Jack came in third, beating 10 1/2 lengths. They were back in the GI Santa Anita Derby and he was third again, finishing 12 1/4 lengths behind Taiba (Gunman).
O’Neill said: “He was a blender. “I think he had to join earlier. Hopefully with a shorter pitch, better turret position and opportunistic opportunities, he can be put more forward. He’s a trier and a stayer, and I think he can create more ground up front. “
Happy Jack galloped at Churchill on Sunday morning and is expected to arrive in Pimlico on Tuesday.
“Knock on wood, he’s doing well,” said O’Neill.
The post-slot draws for Friday’s GII Black-Eyed Susan S. and Saturday’s GI Preakness S. will be broadcast live Monday from Citron starting at 4:30 p.m. on: www.facebook.com/Preakness/ and twitter.com/preaknessstakes/. In Spanish, visit: https://youtube.com/HipicaTV/live.
