(from Santa Anita notes)
Three-time grade I winner Summer Bird, the leading candidate for an Eclipse Award in the male 3-year-old division, worked five furlongs in 1:00.45 under regular rider Kent Desormeaux after Oak Tree’s second race Oct. 25. The chestnut son of Birdstone came on Santa Anita's main track at the head of the quarter mile chute, back-tracked to the half mile pole and then jogged and galloped through the stretch and around the clubhouse turn.
Desormeaux set him down to breeze approaching the five furlong pole and he guided him through splits of 24.42 and 48.56. Summer Bird galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.03 as he continues to prepare for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) at 1 1/4 miles on Nov. 7.
“The work was great,” trainer Tim Ice said after Summer Bird’s drill. “This was exactly what we wanted. He looked super getting over the track and he’s been getting over it very well ever since we got here.
“Kent had a ton of horse under him and he just let him work on his own, within himself. I’m super happy with how he’s trained here and how he’s handled everything. We’ll walk tomorrow and he’ll go back to the track Tuesday morning.”
Ice said that Summer Bird, winner of the Belmont and Travers stakes and the Jockey Club Gold Cup (all gr. I) this season, would have one more breeze prior to the Breeders’ Cup. That five-eighths move is scheduled Oct. 31.
Desormeaux, who experienced a 3-hour airport runway delay in New York, flew in earlier in the day for the work.
With his son Jacob in tow, Desormeaux simply stated, “He enjoyed it and he galloped out super.”
