On Saturday, April 26, trainer Mike Maker wrapped up serious work for two of his three Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) hopefuls when Vicar's in Trouble and Harry's Holiday each breezed five furlongs on the main track at Churchill Downs.
The trainer characterized both five-furlong moves as maintenance works.
Louisiana Derby (gr. II) winner Vicar's in Trouble, with jockey Rosie Napravnik up, completed five furlongs in 1:03 4/5 while working in company with General Jack, a 3-year-old who won a stakes last year at Canterbury Park. Ken and Sarah Ramsey's Vicar's in Trouble shadowed his workmate throughout.
"He worked very much the right way, did it very easily and galloped out well," Napravnik said.
In explaining why he assigned a workmate for Vicar's in Trouble, Maker hinted that his third Derby hopeful, General a Rod, didn't deliver the workout he wanted in a five-furlong breeze in 1:03 2/5 on April 23.
"He can be a little lazy on his own," Maker said of Vicar's in Trouble. "I didn't want what happened the other day to happen again."
Clockers caught Vicar's in Trouble in splits of :13 1/5, :25 4/5, and :38 1/5, and galloping out six furlongs in 1:17 1/5.
Skychai Racing (Harvey Diamond), Sand Dollar Stable, Terry Raymond, and Jana Wagner's Harry's Holiday, with Corey Lanerie up, completed five furlongs in 1:02 3/5. After the workout, Maker named Lanerie to ride the son of Harlan's Holiday in the Derby (full story here).
"I couldn't ask for much more," Lanerie said of the move. "He feels like bit of a lazy horse in the morning, which might be a good thing for this race; it might help him get a mile and a quarter. He didn't do anything unless I asked him. He does whatever you want him to."
Clockers credited Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati Spiral Stakes (gr. III) runner-up Harry's Holiday with splits of :13 2/5, :38 4/5, and a gallop out of six furlongs in 1:16 1/5.
Maker also sent out the Ramseys' Longines Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) hopeful Thank You Marylou, who completed five furlongs in 1:01 under jockey Julien Leparoux, and galloped out in 1:15 1/5. She registered splits of :36 3/5 and :48 4/5.
