Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness runner-up Mine That Bird was returned to the track this morning at Churchill Downs for the first time since running third in the Belmont Stakes.
Under regular exercise rider Charlie Figueroa, Mine That Bird leisurely back-tracked once around in the Churchill mud for trainer Bennie "Chip" Woolley.
"He is fresh as a daisy," Woolley said. “He came out of the Belmont great. He has held up well and hasn’t lost any weight. I am tickled with where he is at now.”
Co-owners Mark Allen and Dr. Leonard Blach will join Woolley and jockey Calvin Borel in Louisville this weekend to receive their Derby trophies between live races; Allen, Blach, Figueroa and Woolley are then scheduled to return to New Mexico. It will be the first time home since late April for Woolley, whose brother Bill will take over watch of Mine That Bird at Churchill.
Woolley said he and the owners will confer this weekend regarding the return spot for Mine That Bird, who they plan to give an eight-week rest following the Triple Crown grind, and hope to have a decision early next week.
“I am going to get with Mark and Doc when they get here and right now I am aiming for Monday for a decision on what we are going to do,” Woolley said. “We have six options that we are looking at.”
Among them are the Jim Dandy and Travers at Saratoga, the Haskell at Monmouth Park, the Pennsylvania Derby at Philadelphia Park, and the West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Park.
Woolley said Mine That Bird will walk Friday and Saturday and go back to the track on Sunday.
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There are five graded stakes on Saturday's card at Churchill, led by the Grade 1 $600,000 Stephen Foster Handicap for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles.
In that race, Einstein is favored to become only the second horse with Grade 1 victories on three surfaces -- conventional dirt, turf and synthethics -- and the first to do it in one calendar year. Einstein has won 11 of 25 career starts including the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill and Santa Anita Handicap in 2009.
Lava Man was the first horse to earn Grade 1 wins on three surfaces.
Among those challenging Einstein in the Stephen Foster is Macho Again, owned in part by Roger and Joyce Locks of Saratoga Springs through the West Point Thoroughbreds syndicate.
Winner of the Grade 2 Jim Dandy in 2008 and the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap in March, Macho Again was last seen running sixth of 10 as the favorite in the Grade 3 Alysheba on Derby eve, May 1, done in by a slow pace and a 1 1/16 mile distance not to his liking.
The Lockses are already in Louisville, anticipating the race. They visited Three Chimneys Farm, home of stallions such as Big Brown, Smarty Jones and War Chant, and have a trip scheduled to see 2007 and 2008 Horse of the Year Curlin on Monday at Lane's End.
"Three Chimneys is like you've died and gone to heaven," Roger Locks said. "It's beyond beautiful. You don't have to die to go to heaven; just go there."
Macho Again has won at Churchill before, taking the Derby Trial last year before running second in the Preakness at Pimlico in Baltimore.
"It's going to be a good race. I can see Macho doing it," Joyce Locks said. "I think he will do it. It's going to be who's on their game; hopefully, Macho is."
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Fans of Saratoga will want to pay attention to one of the undercard stakes, the Grade 3 $100,000 Northern Dancer for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles.
The 6-5 program favorite in that race is a horse named Warrior's Reward, who has the $1 million Travers, Saratoga's showpiece event, on his to-do list.
A winner of two of four races, all this year, Warrior's Reward is trained by Ian Wilkes, who was an assistant to Carl Nafzger for both of Nafzger's Travers victories, with Street Sense in 2007 and Unshaded in 2000.
Warrior's Reward ran second to now-injured Belmont and Florida Derby-runner up Dunkirk, and was an allowance winner May 1 over Munnings, who came back to take the Grade 2 Woody Stephens on the Belmont Stakes undercard.
Warrior's Reward was eighth behind Musket Man (third in Derby, Preakness) in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby in mid-March, his only previous stakes attempt.
“He didn’t get the best of rides that day and it might have been a blessing for him,” Wilkes said. “He made some noise in that race and had a little throat surgery after that has been good since. Maybe it was not our time yet.”
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Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito will saddle 7-year-old gelding Commentator in Friday's $65,000 Kashatreya at Belmont Park, which he hopes will be a springboard to the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga Aug. 8.
A winner of 13 races and more than $1.9 million in 23 lifetime starts, Commentator finds himself up against fellow New York-breds for the first time since 2007. He is 5-0 against state-breds, winning by a combined 44 3/4 lengths.
First post Friday is 3 p.m., as Belmont begins its twilight Friday cards for the remainder of the meet - with the exception of July 3.
Commentator is 4-1-2 in seven lifetime starts at Belmont. He is coming off a fourth-place finish as the favorite in the Charles Town Classic on April 18.
Five-time Horse of the Year Kelso is the oldest Whitney winner ever, at age 8 in 1965. Kelso, Discovery and Commentator are the only horses to win multiple Whitneys.
Commentator tuned up for the Kashatreya with a bullet half-mile work of :47 2/5 on June 4 at the Oklahoma training track in Saratoga.
“Obviously, chasing Kelso is on our minds,” Zito said. “We got side-tracked at Charles Town. This race on Friday is perfect for him. A race is a race, but hopefully, it will be a race he can get something out of without it being too taxing. He’s older now, and like the rest of us, he needs to work out to stay in shape. He looks terrific and he has been training great, so we’ll see. Hopefully, this puts us on track for the Whitney.”
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The Daily Racing Form reported this week that upset Belmont winner Summer Bird will bypass the Jim Dandy and instead run in the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park the following day.
Trainer Tim Ice cited the purse and the grading as his reasons for heading to the Jersey Shore. The Haskell is a Grade 1 at twice the purse of the Grade 2 Jim Dandy.
The major summer goal will remain the Travers. Ice plans to take up residence in Saratoga in the days following the Haskell.
Summer Bird flew from New York to Louisville on Monday and was vanned to Louisiana Downs, arriving around 10 p.m. He walked Tuesday and Wednesday and was scheduled to return to the track today.
