by Frank Angst
In his final serious exercise for the $275,000 Goodwood Stakes (G1) on Saturday, Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) winner Mine That Bird handily worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 on Tuesday at Santa Anita Park.
The 1 1/8-mile race at the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting will mark the Derby winner’s first start against older horses. His connections hope to use the race as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at the same track on November 7. Trainer Chip Woolley was pleased with Tuesday’s workout on the Pro-Ride surface.
“I thought he went perfect this morning,” Woolley said. “I’m pleased with the way he did it. He was smoking that last eighth. I had the last eighth to the wire in 11 and two [fifths of a second]. The sun was in my eyes, so I wasn’t able to catch him galloping out six furlongs, but he must’ve got that extra eighth in 12 and one or two. He was really, really marchin’.”
Saturday’s race will mark a return to a synthetic surface for Mine That Bird, who won four of five starts—including three stakes victories—on Woodbine’s Polytrack last year on his way to earning Canadian champion juvenile male honors.
“He handled the track well and he was getting over it good,” Woolley said of Tuesday’s workout. “The way he worked today, I’m actually happier now, with the way he worked last week. It looks like it set him up real good for this work and hopefully, the race on Saturday. The track was a little tighter today and now he’s had a little time to adjust to it.”
While Calvin Borel will guide Mine That Bird on Saturday, jockey Joe Talamo worked Mine That Bird on Tuesday.
“He went real nice,” Talamo said. “He’s a Cadillac. He settled real nice and when I asked him to pick it up in the lane, he was right there for me. It looks like all systems go. I just kinda chirped to him one time and he that was it. He just glides right over this track.”
Frank Angst is senior writer for Thoroughbred Times