Colonial Colony Drills for Clark With Day Aboard

(from Churchill Downs notes)
Lakeside Farm's Colonial Colony, upset winner of the Stephen Foster Handicap (gr. I) at Churchill Downs in June, tuned up for an expected bid for the $500,000-added Clark Handicap (gr. II) with a six-furlong breeze on Friday at Churchill Downs.

With Pat Day in the saddle, the 6-year-old son of 1981 Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winner Pleasant Colony covered the distance over a "muddy" track in 1:15 4/5. Trainer Dallas Stewart, who recently welcomed Colonial Colony to his barn, would not describe the work as a "test drive" for Day -- but he does hope that the Hall of Fame rider will consider taking the mount.

"He went real good," said Stewart. "He went nice and even and steady and got a lot out of it. Pat worked him and we're not for sure if he's going to be able to ride him, but he was good to come out and work him for me. We've had a great relationship over the years and we'll know in the next couple of days if he'll be able to ride him."

Colonial Colony was transferred from the barn of trainer Walter Bindner to Stewart following his most recent race, a sixth-place finish to Pleasantly Perfect in the 1 1/4-mile Pacific Classic (gr. I) Aug. 22 at Del Mar. As the veteran is coming up to the 1 1/8-mile Clark off a three-month layoff, Stewart felt that Colonial Colony needed a strong work and asked Day to come along for the ride.

"The horse is doing great," said Stewart. "We needed to get a real good work on him and get him tired, because he hadn't run in a while. We wanted to let him lay it down a little bit."

Colonial Colony's win in the Stephen Foster was his only victory in seven starts this year. He ran second to Ten Most Wanted in the National Jockey Club (gr. III) at Hawthorne and had a pair of close fourth-place finishes behind Peace Rules in the Suburban (gr. I) at Belmont Park and Eye of the Tiger in the Washington Park Handicap (gr. II) at Arlington Park. He has a career record of 4-7-6 in 32 races and has earned $861,605.

Day has been the regular rider through most of the year for Stonecrest Farm's Perfect Drift, the 2003 Stephen Foster Handicap winner who is scheduled to run in the Clark.