The highly regarded Kentucky Derby (gr. I) prospect First Samurai continues to work toward his much-anticipated 3-year-old debut, breezing five furlongs in 1:00 3/5 Saturday morning at Gulfstream Park.The move was the third recorded workout for the Giant's Causeway colt since trainer Frank Brothers arrived for the winter season in early December. First Samurai finished a game third as the favorite in the Bessemer Trust Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) behind Stevie Wonderboy at Belmont Park on Oct. 29.Owned by Bruce Lunsford and Lansdon Robbins III, First Samurai won his first four starts, including the Hopeful Stakes (gr. I) at Saratoga and Champagne Stakes (gr. I) at Belmont, prior to suffering his first defeat in the Breeders' Cup. Brothers has indicated that the $150,000 Hutcheson Stakes (gr. II) at seven furlongs on Feb. 4 is the likely target.
Trainer Nick Zito sent three of his promising 3-year-old prospects out for workouts Saturday morning. Kinsman Stable's Hemingway's Key, a Notebook colt with a pair of victories in as many starts, breezed an easy half-mile in :51 flat.My Meadowview Farm's Doc Cheney, also two-for-two and the son of Fusaichi Pegasus , went five-eighths in 1:02 2/5. Robert V. LaPenta's Superfly, fifth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, was clocked five furlongs in 1:01 3/5.
