Adriano worked five furlongs at Churchill Downs Sunday morning in preparation for the May 3 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I). The striking chestnut son of A.P. Indygot the distance in 1:00 4/5 under exercise rider Xavier Aizpuru.
Working in company with Cherokee Artist at about 8:35 after the break, Adriano was caught in fractions of :12 1/5, :24 2/5, and :36 3/5. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:14 2/5.
Trained by Graham Motion, Adriano is a homebred for Don Adam’s Courtlandt Farms. He is out of the Mr. Prospector mare Gold Canyon.
“I didn’t clock him because I couldn’t see a darn thing,” Motion said. “But they told me he went a minute and change. I did catch him in the last quarter in :24 or maybe a little bit better which I’m very pleased with. I wanted to see him finish up like that.”
Sunday’s move was Adriano’s third recorded workout over the Churchill Downs main track. On April 20 he went five furlongs in 1:01 4/5 and on April 13 he was clocked a half-mile in :50.
Adriano has not started since winning the nine-furlong Lane’s End Stakes (gr. II) over the Polytrack at Turfway Park March 22. In his lone start on a dirt surface, he ran ninth of 12 in the Fountain of Youth Stakes (gr. II) at Gulfstream Park Feb. 24.
“He’s trained on dirt all winter,” Motion said. “He did a lot of his works on the grass at Palm Meadows, which is what I do with my horses there anyway, but he breezed over the dirt during the winter.
“Aizpuru has been riding him all winter so I was glad he was able to work him today and compare his work on other surfaces and he said he felt like he handled today as good as, or maybe better, than he’s handled the surfaces all winter.”
Edgar Prado will ride Adriano in the Derby.
“He knows how I like my horses to run and we have a good rapport,” Motion said. “He always has his horses in the right spot in a race. He certainly seems to have knack for it. The first time we talked about this horse, he kind of gave me a different perspective on the horse. He understood things that maybe I hadn’t thought of before. Most of the top jockeys are like that.”