by Jeff Lowe

Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Colonel John may have answered any questions over his suitability to dirt on Sunday when he blazed through five furlongs in :57.80 over the Churchill Downs main track.

The Tiznow colt galloped out six furlongs in 1:11.20 in the solo move just after the renovation break under his regular exercise rider, Karine Lhuillier. His internal fractions were :12, :23.20, :34.60, and :46.

The final time was the fastest of 62 workouts at five furlongs. Six other workers shaded 1:00, and Eight Belles was the second fastest at :58.20.

"I'm happy with the way he did it," trainer Eoin Harty said. "The track seems very, very fast, unnecessarily fast. He did it like he always does, well within himself.

“[The dirt] doesn't seem like it's an issue. I thought he handled it very well. He's having a pretty good blow, but he seems like he's back to himself."

Colonel John has never raced on dirt, but he breezed up to four furlongs as a two-year-old at the HighPointe Training Center in LaGrange, Kentucky. His six career starts have been on synthetic surfaces at Del Mar, Santa Anita Park, and Hollywood Park.

Harty said he received well wishes from his former boss, trainer Bob Baffert, on Saturday night. Harty was an assistant when Baffert won the Derby in 1997 and '98 with Silver Charm and Real Quiet.

"I feel a little more claustrophobic [as the head trainer]," Harty joked with reporters, microphones, and tape recorders all around him about 30 minutes after the workout. "[Baffert] is a big believer in my horse. He's been that way for a long time. He told me not to panic and to keep my eyes on the prize and that he thought things were going to work out well."

Asked if Baffert suggested such a fast workout, Harty deadpanned, "No, that was my own idea."

An obvious comparison, just based on Colonel John's time, would be Hard Spun's five-furlong breeze in :57.53 five days before last year's Derby. The move was heavily scrutinized and then vindicated when Hard Spun finished second to Street Sense.

Hard Spun's move was the fastest five-furlong workout just prior to the Derby since General Assembly covered the distance in :57.40 prior to his second-place finish in 1979 for Racing Hall of Fame trainer LeRoy Jolley.

"If [Colonel John] was the only horse to go that fast or close to it, I would say that it was [too fast], but in light of the fact that everybody else seems to be working fast this morning, I think it was more track conditions than the horse doing a little much," Harty said. "I just told her to work him the way you do at Santa Anita, and that's the way it was."

WinStar Farm has launched a site documenting the career of Colonel John, which will include daily updates on his Derby week progress. Click here to visit the site.

Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer