Sent out for his first serious move since winning the Feb. 4 GIII Withers S. at Aqueduct M M G Stables' 'TDN Rising Star' El Areeb (Exchange Rate) zipped four furlongs in :47.70 (video) over the Laurel main track Saturday morning with trainer Cathal Lynch's son Charlie in the irons. It was the second-fastest of 35 works at the distance.
“Charlie was on him today because I wanted him to go a little slower,” Lynch explained. “When [regular rider] Trevor [McCarthy] gets on there, he knows he's up for a work and he'll try to go a little quicker. He did it all by himself today. It was a little quicker than he probably needed to, but it's not unusual for him.”
The 5 1/4-length winner of Laurel's James F. Lewis S. to close out his 2-year-old season Nov. 19, the $100,000 Keeneland September yearling turned $340,000 OBS March 2-year-old opened up his sophomore campaign with a towering 11 1/4-length tally in the GIII Jerome S. in the Aqueduct mud Jan. 2. He rated kindly while three wide in the Withers and raced away late for a convincing 4 1/4-length score.
After originally declaring that El Areeb would train up to either the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. or the GII Wood Memorial S., Lynch is now considering wheeling the colt back in the GIII Gotham S. Mar. 4.“
Right now I'm kind of in-between the Gotham and the Wood or just the Wood or the Blue Grass. Those are the three,” the conditioner offered. “The next choice I have to make is whether we're going to go ahead and run in the Gotham. I was planning to give him some time between the races. If he insists he doesn't need any more time and we want to run then he'll go in the Gotham. That's something that's not based on today's work. It'll be another work or two before we make a final decision.
He continued, “The only thing about going to Kentucky is that we would go there and maybe fly or drive there I'm not sure, maybe get him used to some different things and throw some other stuff at him,” he added. “He's handled everything we've thrown at him so far really well. He's still a young horse and we have to test him every time we do something different. So far he's passed with flying colors. He's a 4.0 student.”
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