James Tafel’s Street Sense, winner of this year's Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) and Saratoga’s Travers Stakes(gr. I), continued to crank up for his final prep for the Oct. 27 Breeders’ Cup Classic powered by Dodge (gr. I) when he worked a sharp five furlongs Sept. 19 at Churchill Downs.
The homebred son of Street Cry breezed five furlongs over a fast track in 1:00.60 in his second workout over the Louisville track in four days. The drill under jockey Calvin Borel, which ranked as the second fastest of 16 at the distance, came on the heels of a Sept. 16 four-furlong move in :48.60.
Fractional times for the work were :13, :25.40, :37.60 and :49.20. The Carl Nafzger-trained colt galloped out six furlongs in 1:13.40 and seven furlongs in 1:27.
Nafzger said the close placement of the works was not unusual for his stable.
“I always do that when I want to get a good work in and sharpen him up,” Nafzger said. “All you do with that half-mile is just tune him up, like you’re going to run a race. We just wanted a good work, and he worked like clockwork his morning.”
Nafzger said a decision on the final prep race for Street Sense in preparation for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Monmouth Park would be made early next week. The races under consideration are the $350,000 Kentucky Cup Classic (gr. II) at Turfway Park and the $500,000 Hawthorne Gold Cup (gr. II) at Hawthorne Park, both Sept. 29, or the $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational (gr. I) at Belmont Park the following day.
His recent victory in the Travers lifted the career record for Street Sense to 6-3-2 in 11 races and boosted his earnings to $4,058,200.
