Backtalk and Make Music for Me, two horses whose connections would like to get them into the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) worked Sunday, April 25.
Backtalk, with jockey Miguel Mena aboard, breezed five furlongs in 1:01 3/5 over the Polytrack at Keeneland. Working in company with Sangre Frio, the son of Smarty Jones was timed in fractions of :12 2/5, :25, :37 4/5, and :50 2/5 while galloping out six furlongs in 1:14 4/5.
Make Music for Me, a son of Bernstein, breezed five furlongs in 1:02 2/5 over a Churchill Downs track labeled "good," with fractions of :12 2/5, :24 4/5, :37 3/5, and :49 2/5. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:18.
Neither horse has sufficient earnings in graded stakes that are used to determine the 20-horse starting field in the Derby. Backtalk, trained by Tom Amoss for Gold Mark Farm, has $225,916 in graded earnings and Make Music for Me, trained by Alexis Barba for Ellen and Peter O. Johnson, has $218.750 in such purses. Following the defection of Eskendereya, they rank 22 and 23, respectively, on the graded earnings list. One or both horses could eventually draw in if there are defections from the horses ranking above them on the graded list.