Charles Fipke homebred Tale of Verve (Tale of Ekati) joined trainer Dallas Stewart's Saratoga string Wednesday to train up to a possible start in the GI Travers S. Aug. 29. The GI Preakness S. runner-up has been in Kentucky since finishing sixth in the GII West Virginia Derby Aug. 1.
“I went back to Churchill with him because I didn't know if I wanted to do the Travers or not, but I want to run him a mile and a quarter, definitely,” Stewart said. “He came out of the last race good. Just thinking back all year long, he's a horse that gets better with racing. I think he'll do better with the race and a couple of good works up here, and then we'll see where we're at. I'll probably work him a couple of [half-miles] and then send him over there fresh and strong.”
Stewart plans to work Tale of Verve, who also finished seventh in the GI Belmont S. June 6, Sunday or Monday.
“I thought he ran pretty good coming off the Belmont,” Stewart said. “He's the kind of horse that you have to run into shape, and it appears that he's training better than he was before the West Virginia Derby. I didn't think it was a bad race. I thought it was an OK race; he got beat about five lengths. His energy seems good and he's very sound. We know he's capable of running a big race. If you're not in there, you can't participate. We're going to train him up to [the Travers] and see how he does. We're looking like we're going to run.”
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