The stable star, Curlin, winner of the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) and beaten a head in the Belmont Stakes (gr. I), turned in a bullet five-furlong work in 1:00 1/5, the fastest of 11 works at the distance.
Curlin, a son of Smart Strike, owned by Jess Jackson, Satish Sanan, George Bolton, and Midnight Cry Stables, is on target for his return in the $1-million Haskell Invitational Handicap (gr. I) at Monmouth on Aug. 5, where he is expected to face Fox Hill Farm’s Hard Spun, runner-up in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), as well as the undefeated local horse, Cable Boy.
Tiz Wonderful, last year’s Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (gr. II) winner, who was injured earlier this year, breezed five furlongs in 1:01 2/5, but, interestingly, also showed up on the Saratoga work tab working six furlongs in 1:14 handily. The son of Tiznow will make his 3-year-old debut against Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense and Dwyer (gr. II) winner Any Given Saturday in the $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes (gr. II) July 29. Street Sense and Any Given Saturday have not yet been confirmed for the Jim Dandy, but that is where they are expected to run at this time. Satish Sanan owns part of Any Given Saturday, as well as Curlin.
The hard-knocking stakes-placed Zanjero, beaten a nose and a head in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I), worked his five furlongs in 1:01 3/5. The son of Cherokee Run could show up in the $750,000 West Virginia Derby (gr. III) at Mountaineer Aug. 4, as could stakes-placed Forty Grams, who breezed five panels in 1:02 2/5.