Foster favorites puts in workouts
Louisville, KY (Sports Network) – Successful Dan and Take Charge Indy, the probable favorites for next week’s Stephen Foster Handicap, had workouts Saturday for the 1 1/8-mile stakes.
Successful Dan, trained by Charles Lopresti, had a four-furlong workout at Keeneland. Winner of the Ben Ali, Successful Dan covered the half-mile in 48 2/5 seconds on Keeneland’s synthetic main track.
“He worked well and galloped out really strong,” Lopresti said. “He was hard to pull up after the work because he wanted to do more and we wouldn’t let him do more than that. We didn’t want to go fast today. We just wanted :12s at every pole and he couldn’t have done it any better.
“He cooled out really well and now it’s just a matter of keeping him happy till the race.”
Working at Churchill Downs was Take Charge Indy. The 4-year-old worked four furlongs in 47 seconds with regular exercise rider Johnny Byrne. Trained by Patrick Byrne, Take Charge Indy galloped out five furlongs in 1:01 2/5.
“Johnny did a great job of putting a little speed back into the big fella,” Byrne said. “I wanted to put a little air into him today and we’ve got him ready for next Saturday. He’s training as good, if not better, for this race as he did for the Alysheba.”
Former Foster winner Pool Play and Golden Ticket also had works on Saturday Churchill Downs.
Pool Play, under Miguel Mena, worked five furlongs in 1:01 1/5 and galloped out six furlongs in 1:13 4/5.
“When we won the race in 2011, even though we were longshots, we were confident,” assistant trainer Norman Casse said. “This is a much tougher rendition of the Stephen Foster. I hope the real Pool Play shows up and he can be competitive against some of the best horses in the country.”
Golden Ticket, with Marvin Abrego riding, was timed in 1:00 4/5 for five furlongs and galloped out in 1:14. The co-winner of last year’s Travers worked with stablemate Bellarmine, who was timed with a five-furlong work of 1:01 3/5.
“I think both horses got what they needed out of the work and they both came out of it well,” said Phil Bauer, assistant to trainer Ken McPeek. “I think Golden Ticket is coming into the race in good shape. He seemed to like the surface here in his last race and so if he can stretch it out to two turns against some better competition then he should be good.”
Weight assignments for the Foster were revealed Saturday.
Horse of the Year Wise Dan was assigned the top weight of 125 pounds although the 6-year-old gelding is not scheduled to start.
The likely co-starting highweights are Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Fort Larned and Successful Dan who are slotted at 121 pounds.
Weighted one pound less at 120 is defending Foster winner Ron the Greek. At 119 pounds is Alysheba winner Take Charge Indy.
Golden Ticket was assigned 117 pounds and Pool Play 115.
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