by Ed DeRosa

Mount Joy Stables’s homebred Florida Derby (G1) runner-up Smooth Air returned to the racetrack on Sunday after missing two days of training because of a low-grade fever.

The Smooth Jazz colt jogged one mile to trainer Bennie Stutts Jr.’s satisfaction, and the colt is back on target to start in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands.

“He had a bug in him on Thursday and Friday morning, but on Saturday he was fine,” Mount Joy principal Brian Burns said. “He was full of himself today, we had to calm him down and give him a relaxant, and then he did what he was supposed to do.”

Burns said that Smooth Air would gallop two miles for the remainder of the week. His last work came on April 19 at Calder Race Course, where he went seven furlongs in 1:25.80.

“He’s fit, we just want to make sure he’s healthy,” Stutts said.

Smooth Air would be the first Derby starter for Burns, Stutts, and jockey Manoel Cruz. He has won three of seven starts, never finished worse than third, and earned $395,500.

Ed DeRosa is news editor of Thoroughbred Times