Street Sense Starts Cranking for Summer Campaign

(from Churchill Downs notes)
James Tafel’s homebred Street Sense, winner of the 2007 Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), took a first step toward his summer and fall campaign with a solid four-furlong work on Sunday at Churchill Downs.

The 3-year-old son of Street Cry, who was beaten by a slim head by Curlin in the Preakness (gr. I) in his most recent start, breezed four furlongs in :49 2/5. The move under jockey Calvin Borel over a “muddy” track ranked 14th out of 40 at the distance on one of the spring meet’s rare wet mornings.

It was the first serious training effort for Street Sense since a four-furlong move in :49 over a “fast” track at Churchill Downs on May 30. The work was described as “perfect” by two-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Carl Nafzger.

“He went good,” said Nafzger. “He was relaxed. He went really good and we’re back on schedule. Let’s see if we can make the Jim Dandy (gr. II) or the Haskell (gr. I) and go from there.”

When Nafzger announced that his Kentucky Derby winner would bypass the Belmont Stakes (GI), the final jewel of the Triple Crown, he said that the $500,000 Jim Dandy on July 29 at Saratoga or the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on Aug. 5 would mark the start of a summer/fall campaign that would include as its major objectives the $1 million Travers (gr. I) at Saratoga on Aug. 25 and the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic - Powered by Dodge (gr. I) on Oct. 27 at Monmouth.

“Let’s hope he comes out of this good and starts moving forward,” Nafzger said. “He’d been galloping the whole time, and we just thought it was time for him to get back. If we’re going to make the Jim Dandy or the Haskell, we’ve got to start cranking up. And he did it exactly the way we wanted him to.”
           
Street Sense, who won last fall’s Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I) to earn the Eclipse Award that honored him as America’s champion 2-year-old, has a career record of 4-3-2 in nine races and has earned $3,158,200.

Nafzger will be heading to New York’s Belmont Park later this week with the other star of his stable, the Bentley Smith Revocable Trust’s Lady Joanne, who is scheduled to compete in the $250,000-added Mother Goose (gr. I) on June 30.

Lady Joanne won the $150,000-added Dogwood Breeders’ Cup (gr. III) in her most recent start after taking a Kentucky Derby Week allowance race that served as a belated opener for her 2007 campaign.

The winner of last fall’s $200,000-added Golden Rod (gr. II) is expected to work over the Churchill Downs track early this week before she heads to New York at midweek for the Mother Goose, her debut in grade I company.