Colonel Works, Georgie Out
– Colonel John, prepping for the Santa Anita Derby, worked six furlongs in 1:10.80 on Monday over the main track. With San Felipe Stakes winner Georgie Boy off the Derby trail with a pulled muscle and earnings-poor Bob Black Jack going to the Blue Grass Stakes, the Santa Anita Derby is shaping up as a rematch between Colonel John and El Gato Malo, the one-two finishers in the Sham Stakes.
– Elysium Fields will ship to trainer Barclay Tagg’s Keeneland barn this week, but it’s unlikely he’ll continue on to the Derby following his eleventh-place finish in the Florida Derby. “I can’t imagine we could go into the Derby off a race like that,” said assistant trainer Robin Smullen, who explained away the colt’s poor performance as a case of overheating (Courier-Journal). Tagg still has two potential Derby contenders in Tale of Ekati, expected to start in the Wood this Saturday, and Tampa Bay Derby winner Big Truck, now being considered for the Blue Grass or the Holy Bull. In his first start of the year, Tale of Ekati disappointed finishing sixth in the Louisiana Derby and will have to show a remarkable turnaround in the Wood to justify a Derby post. Of course, the same could be said of War Pass, the likely favorite for the Wood.
