Slew's Tizzy Breezes; 'He's Ready,' Says Fox

(from Belmont Park notes)
Slew’s Tizzy had his final major pre-Belmont Stakes workout Saturday morning at The Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington, Ky. The colt breezed a half mile over the facility’s conventional dirt track for trainer Gregory Fox.

“I got him in :49 flat,” Fox said. “I worked him from the mile pole to the half mile pole at the end of a two mile gallop. It was very impressive.”

Slew’s Tizzy is one of six confirmed starters for Saturday's 139th running of the $1 million Belmont Stakes (gr. I) for 3-year-olds at 1 1/2 miles.
           
Slew’s Tizzy has racked up back-to-back stakes victories since April 21, taking the Lexington (gr. II) at Keeneland and Lone Star Derby (gr. III).  Fox says he hasn’t changed the colt's training regimen heading into the third and final leg of the Triple Crown.

"We’ve pretty much done the same thing with him,” he said. “His work today, that’s what we did before Texas.”

Slew’s Tizzy, with jockey John Velazquez to ride, will van to Louisville early Tuesday morning before he boards a New York-bound flight that afternoon.

“He’s ready,” Fox said. “The track he trains on is very deep and I think it’s a great surface for getting a horse fit.”

Slew’s Tizzy’s sire, Tiznow  , won his second Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) at Belmont Park in 2001.

Hard Spun, the Kentucky Derby runner-up and third-place Preakness finisher, had an uneventful van ride from Delaware Park and arrived safely at Belmont Park at around 2:40 ET Saturday afternoon.

“He galloped about a mile and a half this morning down here,” said trainer Larry Jones, who was to arrive later this evening. “I plan to breeze him on Monday, but I’m looking at the weather forecast and it looks a little unsettled. I’ll make up my mind tomorrow morning.” 

Lewis Pell and Michael Eigner’s Imawildandcrazyguy galloped 1 3/4 miles Saturday morning and will make his third consecutive start in a grade I when he runs in the Belmont Stakes.

The Wild Event gelding will have his final pre-Belmont work Sunday morning, according to trainer Bill Kaplan.

“He’ll probably go out at 5:30,” Kaplan said. “He’ll start off in a big, long gallop and then go into a three-eighths breeze.”

Imawildandcrazyguy has not run since finishing a good fourth in the Kentucky Derby.

Preakness (gr. I) winner Curlin, owned by the partnership of Midnight Cry Stable, Stonestreet Stable, Padua Stables and George Bolton, galloped 1 1/2 miles Saturday morning at Churchill Downs.

“Everything has gone perfectly since the Preakness,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “He’ll work Monday morning and ship to New York on Tuesday.”

Curlin figures to be a strong favorite in the Belmont Stakes off his Triple Crown experience, which includes a third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby.