April 27 - There's just six days to go before the Kentucky Derby, America's greatest thoroughbred horserace, and excitement in Louisville, Kentucky, home of Churchill Downs Racecourse has reached fever pitch, especially with the start of the popular racing venue's 52-day Spring meet last Saturday.

Under sunny skies, race goers descended on Churchill Downs for the first day of the meet, eager to sneak a peak at some of the Kentucky Derby's top contenders, who completed works in the early morning. These included Desert Party, Regal Ransom, Musket Man, Papa Clem and West Side Bernie.

Kicking off the works was Saeed bin Suroor's impressive charge, Regal Ransom, who was brought onto the Churchill Downs track at around 6am under exercise rider, Bob Chapman. Chapman proceeded to complete five furlongs aboard the Godolphin Racing colt in a none-too-shabby time of 59.13s.

Fellow Godolphin colt Desert Party was sent out after the mid-morning renovation break, also working five furlongs under Chapman. He recorded a time of 59.44s which, while slower than that of his stable mate, did not seem to faze bin Suroor. 'They both worked good,' he was quoted as saying.

Interestingly, the day's remaining three workouts were not as sharp as those of the Godolphin duo. Papa Clem for instance, covered seven furlongs in 1:29.12. And notably, his exercise rider Mundo Cedeno eased up by the sixteenth pole. Said trainer Gary Stute, 'Mundo did that because he was getting tired.'

Musket Man, who recently chalked up wins in the Tampa Bay Derby and Illinois Derby, covered six furlongs in 1:14.81 with jockey Eibar Coa aboard. He was accompanied by his relatively unproven stable mate, Bull Toccet, who surprisingly perhaps, delivered a faster time than that of the Derby hopeful.

Under jockey Stewart Elliott, West Side Bernie completed a half-mile in a routine 48.22s. Said the colt's trainer, Kelly Breen, 'I didn't want to tire him out by working him too far. He came back blowing a little bit. I just wanted to get him used to the track. I'm looking to have a sharp horse in the Derby.'

Saturday's feature race, the $100,000 Derby Trial Stakes (Gr 3), was won in fine style by Hull. Said his trainer Dale Romans, 'I loved what I saw out there today. He relaxed off the pace, and when his jockey Miguel Mena asked him to run, he really exploded.' Kensei and Checklist finished second and third.

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2012/04/02 06:43:56 AM