The rotten weather in New York has prompted trainer Bobby Frankel to plot a new course for Empire Maker en route to his showdown with Triple Crown candidate Funny Cide in the June 7 Belmont Stakes.
Rather than going five weeks from the May 3 Kentucky Derby to the mile-and-a-half “Test of the Champion” without a race in between, Empire Maker, second as the favorite in the Run for the Roses, will likely prep for the Belmont in tomorrow’s mile-and-a-sixteenth Jersey Derby at Monmouth Park, Frankel said yesterday.
Frankel does not work his horses in the mud, so off-tracks at Belmont Park the past week have set back Empire Maker’s training, causing the change in plans.
“You have to train him more than you would a horse coming out of the Preakness,” he said. “I definitely haven’t been able to do what I’ve wanted to with him. I have to do something. This should get him where I need him.”
Empire Maker, supplemented for $5,000, was one of eight 3-year-olds entered yesterday for the $100,000 Jersey Derby, originally carded for the turf but switched to the main track. Aaron Gryder, who was aboard Empire Maker for a six-furlong workout last Tuesday, gets the mount as regular rider Jerry Bailey will stay at Belmont to ride Aldebaran for Frankel in the $750,000 Metropolitan Handicap.
Hail to All, Pass Catcher and most recently Creme Fraiche in 1985 won the Belmont after prepping in the Jersey Derby.
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Apparently headed in the right direction, Belmont hopeful Atswhatimtalknbout jogged a mile yesterday at Churchill Downs after missing several days of training because of a bruised foot. The A.P. Indy colt, a fast-closing fourth in the Derby, will gallop today and work at Churchill on Tuesday.
“I feel a whole lot better that I did [Friday],” trainer Ron Ellis said. “He jogged 110 percent. He looked great.”
The abscess in Atswhatimtalknbout’s foot “blew wide open,” said Ellis. “We’ll bandage him, and he’s on antibiotics. We’ll just make sure he doesn’t get infected. Right now we’re on schedule.”