On a quiet April 28 morning at Churchill Downs for Kentucky Derby (G1) prospects after a half-dozen breezed April 27, three Derby entrants notched their final high-speed workouts for the 1 1/4-mile classic, the opening leg of the Triple Crown.
Reigning 2-year-old champion Citizen Bull sped five furlongs in :58 2/5; Coal Battle covered three furlongs in :36; and Baeza, an alternate in the Derby in need of a scratch before a designated cutoff time of 9 a.m. ET May 2 to gain entry to the 20-horse field, breezed five furlongs in 1:02. All three of the breezes came without workmates.
Citizen Bull was the sharpest of the trio, clocked in splits of :11 3/5, :23, and :45 4/5 while always traveling comfortably under his Derby jockey, Martin Garcia. He galloped out six furlongs in 1:12 2/5 and seven furlongs in 1:27 1/5. His official five-furlong time was the quickest of 15 breezes Monday morning at the distance.
"The track's pretty fast, but he did it real easy," said Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.
He is one of two entrants for the six-time Derby-winning trainer, the other being Wood Memorial Stakes (G2) winner Rodriguez, who breezed April 27. SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Dianne Bashor, Determined Stables, Bob Masterson, Tom Ryan, Waves Edge Capital, and Catherine Donovan own the uncoupled duo.
A front-running graded stakes winner in three routes at either a mile or 1 1/16 miles, Citizen Bull pressed the pace in the 1 1/8-mile Santa Anita Derby (G1) April 5 and faded to fourth, beaten 9 3/4 lengths by Journalism, the Kentucky Derby favorite. Baffert felt Citizen Bull might have been short of fitness in his first start in two months.
Some question whether the muscled Citizen Bull, who weighs approximately 1,200 pounds, will relish the classic 1 1/4-mile distance of the Derby, compared to the race favorites, which besides Journalism include Sovereignty and Sandman. If Citizen Bull were compared to a football player, he would have a physique more like a linebacker than a wide receiver.
"The distance is always the question mark on a lot of these horses. Most of them want to go a mile," Baffert said. "But the way he looked today—I'm happy with the way he looks—he's ready to run well."
A son of Into Mischief whose top victory came in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) last fall, Citizen Bull breezed Monday in blinkers, in contrast to some of his workouts in California leading up to the Derby.
Blinkers are plastic cups placed alongside a horse's eyes in a hood and are designed to keep a horse's attention focused straight ahead, minimizing distractions in its peripheral vision. They can also sharpen a horse's speed and make them more aggressive early in races.
The cups of blinkers come in different sizes, with those worn Monday by Citizen Bull not being particularly restrictive.
Citizen Bull will wear the equipment in the race, and Baffert said he "definitely" is happy he elected at entry time to declare the colt would wear them. This was before Citizen Bull drew post 1, inside 19 other 3-year-olds.
With such a large field in the Derby, there is often a scramble for position as the field compresses to the inside of the racetrack, which can result in horses that are not in the leading group getting shuffled back. The rail can also be intimidating for some horses.
Not since Ferdinand in 1986 has a horse won from the inside post position.
Rodriguez is drawn in post 4, three spots outside Citizen Bull.
Of Citizen Bull drawing the rail, Baffert said, "You feel sick to your stomach for about 30 seconds and then you accept it. … You can't worry about it."
Coal Battle's strength is acceleration, not his size
Exercise rider Bethany Taylor encouraged Coal Battle to finish sharply in his breeze, which has been consistent in many of his workouts in preparation for the Derby. He does only what is required when breezing, though he is competitive when racing. He has a 5-for-6 record on dirt with his lone defeat on that surface being a third-place finish in the 1 1/8-mile Arkansas Derby (G1) March 29 at Oaklawn Park.
Noticing his colt was too keen early in that race under jockey Juan Vargas, which may have sapped his finish, trainer Lonnie Briley opted to breeze Coal Battle more regularly leading up to the Derby to have him less on edge on race day.
Coal Battle, a son of Coal Front owned by Norman Stables and selected by Briley as a yearling for purchase, is one of the smaller horses in this year's Derby. Taller, longer-striding horses are typically regarded as best suited to long routes.
"They'll do it a lot easier, but if they get checked and have to regroup and restart, that's an issue," said Briley, a 72-year-old horseman from Opelousas, La.
Being nimble, Coal Battle can accelerate quickly, a style he used to get the jump on Sandman in beating that rival in the 1 1/16-mile Rebel Stakes (G2) a start before the Arkansas Derby.
"And that's kind of what we like with him," Briley said.
Baeza's owners hope the colt gets 'a seat on the bus'
As for Baeza, his workout was accomplished easily, with jockey Flavien Prat simply cruising him around the Churchill oval. Last year's Eclipse Award-winning jockey will ride Baeza in the Derby from the outside post if he draws into the field. A scratch would cause all the other competitors drawn outside of the scratched horse to come in one post position.
Otherwise, Prat will be aboard the speed horse Neoquous, who starts from post 2.
After bringing Baeza back to the barn, Prat told trainer John Shirreffs and later the colt's owners—Lee and Susan Searing of CRK Stable and Robert Clay of Grandview Equine—that the colt breezed well.
"Fingers crossed," he said of their horse drawing into the Derby.
"A seat on the bus, that's all we want," Clay replied.
Clay's Grandview Equine bred Baeza, a son of McKinzie , as well as the colt's famous half brothers, 2023 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mage and 2024 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Dornoch , who are out of the Big Brown mare Puca. The latter, sold for $2.9 million to John Stewart at the 2023 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale, was named 2024 Broodmare of the Year earlier this month at the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association's Kentucky-breds Awards Dinner.
Prat told BloodHorse that Monday was the first time he had been aboard Baeza. He called the workout "nice and easy."
As for Neoquous, he was on the track galloping under his exercise rider while Prat was breezing Baeza. Jockeys rarely gallop horses, the customary training that comes between breezes. Prat has not ridden, nor yet breezed the Neolithic colt for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.
Neoquous has twice been third in graded stakes, showing in the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) and Florida Derby (G1) for owners C2 Racing Stable, Ian Parsard, Shining Stables, Stefania Farms, Ken Reimer, Paul Braverman, and Timothy Pinch.
"I'll talk to Saffie and see what he can tell me about the horse, but I've watched his races. He's usually a forwardly placed horse. I like the draw; I like the horses around me—they have speed. So I think that's a good thing, too."
Prat won the 2019 Kentucky Derby aboard Country House when Maximum Security was disqualified for interference.
Upcoming Workouts
Tentatively scheduled to breeze the morning of April 29 are the two Japanese horses, Luxor Cafe and Admire Daytona. Heavy rain is expected later Tuesday.
Their respective trainers, Noriyuki Hori and Yukihiro Kato, are expected to be at Churchill Downs for training Tuesday after being scheduled to arrive in Kentucky Monday. The two horses have been under the care of assistants and other staff since their arrival here.
