It was a beautiful Saturday morning at Churchill Downs April 26 as a handful of hopefuls for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) and Longines Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) went to the track.
Nearly every horse moving toward the May 2 Oaks and the May 3 Derby went out during the 15-minute designated time following the maintenance break, with a handful of contenders in each race completing their final workouts.
Two horses not in the Derby field yet who worked under the shadows of the Twin Spires and the "Big Board" were Commanding Curve and Big Bazinga, who are 21st and 25th, respectively, on the Derby points list.
A son of Master Command who finished third in the Louisiana Derby (gr. II), Commanding Curve is trained by Dallas Stewart, who sent out Golden Soul to a second-place finish in last year's Derby at 34-1 odds.
At a glance, here is a quick look at the workout times, courtesy of Churchill Downs media tweets. First is the distance and official time of the work, with fractional split times and any "gallop out" times. More details on the works can be found in Bloodhorse.com stories.
Kentucky Derby workouts:
Big Bazinga (jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. up) 4F in :48. Splits :12 1/5, :24 1/5. Out 5F 1:01 1/5.
Candy Boy (jockey Gary Stevens up, outside) w/ Monument 5F 1:00 4/5. Started 4-5 back. Splits :12 2/5, :24 2/5, :36 1/5. Out 1:13 4/5. Monument 5F in 1:03.
Commanding Curve (on the outside) in company with Perfect Title. 5F 1:02 3/5. Splits :12 3/5, :25 1/5, :37 1/5. Out 6F 1:18 1/5. Perfect Title 1:02 4/5.
Harry's Holiday (jockey Corey Lanerie up) 5F 1:02 3/5. Splits :13 2/5 and :38 4/5. Out 6F in 1:16 1/5.
Medal Count 6F 1:13 to 7F pole. Splits :12 3/5, :24 2/5, :36 1/5, :48 1/5, 1:00 1/5. Out 7F in 1:26 3/5 & 1M in 1:42 1/5.
Vicar's in Trouble (outside) with a workmate 5F 1:03 4/5. Splits :13 1/5, :25 4/5, :38 1/5. Out 6F 1:17 1/5.
Kentucky Oaks workouts:
My Miss Sophia (inside) w/ Got Lucky (outside) 4F :49 2/5. Splits :12 1/5, :24 2/5. No 5F out, but 6F gallop out in 1:15.
Rosalind 4F in :49 2/5. First 1/4 in :24 1/5. Out 5F 1:02 3/5.
Thank You Marylou (jockey Julien Leparoux up) 5F 1:01. Splits :36 3/5 and :48 4/5. Out 6F in 1:15 1/5.