General a Rod Works for Florida Derby…
Conditioner Mike Maker's charge General a Rod (Roman Ruler) breezed five panels in 1:01.54 in his final preparation for the GI Besilu Stables Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park Mar. 29. “He worked well,” Maker said. “A horse dropped in and wanted to work with him, but he handled it well, settled nice and did what we wanted. We were just going easy with him. The time was really insignificant.” Owned by J. Armando Rodriguez the Gulfstream Park Derby winner finished a gritty second to arch nemesis Wildcat Red (D'wildcat) in the GII Besilu Stables Fountain of Youth at this venue when last seen Feb. 22. Maker is confident his horse has more than one dimension for the Florida Derby. “If the situation calls for him to be forwardly placed, so be it,” he added. “If we have to sit off it, that's fine, too. Hopefully, somebody else will do the dirty work.”
Tonalist Possible for Wood Memorial…
Shel Evans's “TDN Rising Star” Tonalist (Tapit) could contest Aqueduct's GI Wood Memorial S. Apr. 5, trainer Christophe Clement revealed yesterday. “[The Wood is] one of the options,” said Clement. “We're keeping him eligible. He's a very nice horse, and he's never run a bad race.” An impressive second-out maiden winner at Gulfstream Jan. 18, the bay was most recently second to GI Florida Derby hopeful Constitution (Tapit) in a Hallandale optional claimer Feb. 22. Clement says that if Tonalist does not run in the Wood, he will either contest the Apr. 3 GIII Calder Derby or an allowance race.
Sweet Reason, Noble Moon Breeze in Company…
The Leah Gyarmati-trained, Treadway Racing Stable-owned pair of Sweet Reason (Street Sense) and Noble Moon (Malibu Moon) breezed in company yesterday over the Belmont training track. The former was credited with a mile in 1:46.05, while the latter was timed just a tick slower in 1:46.06. Sweet Reason, winner of last year's GI Spinaway S. and second in the GI Frizette S., made a successful sophomore debut in a Big A optional claimer Mar. 17. She is being pointed to that venue's GII Gazelle S. Apr. 5. Noble Moon, meanwhile, who annexed the GII Jerome S. Jan. 4, is under tentative consideration for the GI Wood Memorial S. the same day. “They finished up well,” said Gyarmati. “The first part was a little slow, but they both came down the lane pretty good.” Noble Moon was forced to miss some training time after the Jerome due to a foot problem, and Gyarmati would not yet commit to the Wood. “I still don't know about [Noble Moon]; we're going to wait until the last minute,” she said. “On entry day, if he's doing good, and we want to run, he will. I want to know he's jumping out of his skin and ready to go. I'm not going to push it. It's not a little, easy race, it's the Wood and it is a competitive race. We did lose a lot of time training, obviously, so if I feel we're 100% fit we'll run. If not, we'll wait for the next spot.”
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
