Hansen Breezes for Blue Grass

2011 champion to make next start in April 14 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes.

Hansen, the 2011 champion 2-year-old male and one of the favorites for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), breezed five furlongs in 1:00 at Churchill Downs’ Trackside training center April 7.

Exercise rider Joel Barrientos was in the saddle for trainer Mike Maker as the son of Tapit was joined in upper stretch by stablemate La Gran Bailadora, a multiple stakes winning mare who was just starting her work. The two horses worked as a team through Hansen’s final quarter-mile and were on even terms when Hansen finished his move midway around the first turn.

“I don’t want to hook him up with another horse early in his work to keep him from getting rank, so I just have a workmate jump in with him to start their work where he’s finishing to get him to finish well,” Maker said. “Before the Gotham that’s kind of how we were working him. So we’re hoping to have a replay for the Blue Grass.”

Hansen was clocked in fractional times of :11 4/5, :23 3/5, :35 4/5 and :48 1/5, and galloped out six furlongs in 1:13 4/5. The colt’s work was the fourth-fastest of 14 at the distance. It was his final preparation for the April 14 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I) at Keeneland.

Owned by Dr. Kendall Hansen and Skychai Racing, Hansen scored an emphatic three-length victory in his most recent start March 3 in the 1 1/16-mile Gotham Stakes (gr. III) at Aqueduct Racetrack. He has a career record of 4-1-0 in five races and earnings of $1,473,305.