By Bloodhorse.com
ARCADIA, Calif. (Feb. 15, 2016) –Trainer Carla Gaines had California-bred Smokey Image breeze during the last workout session Feb. 15 for a specific reason. She wanted the undefeated colt to run an easy half-mile for his first timed drill in preparation for the March 12 San Felipe Stakes (gr. II).
But Irvin Racing Stable’s chestnut found company anyway in the turn of his four-furlong breeze, as he and jockey Victor Espinoza moved inside of a three-furlong worker and stuck with their unexpected rival to the wire, covering the distance in :47 1/5.
“I purposely worked him at 9 a.m. on a Monday,” Gaines said after the drill. “I was just looking for a solo breeze and that horse jumped in with him. But, you know what? He was still sitting there waiting for Victor to do something.”
The time was a bit faster than Gaines wanted, but with a gallop out to five furlongs in :59 4/5, it was clear the time had more to do with Smokey Image’s talent than the stretch duel.
“He’s obviously a fit horse the way he ran,” said Gaines, who gave the Southern Image colt a full week of walking and jogging after his 8 1/2-length romp in the California Cup Derby Jan. 30, his two-turn debut and first race for Gaines. Undefeated in six starts, Smokey Image won all five starts, including four stakes, for his previous conditioner, Greg James.
BALAN: Smokey Image Dominant in Cal Cup Derby
With his five-furlong gallop-out time only a fifth of a second off the bullet for the distance Monday (Too Fast to Pass ran :59 3/5), Espinoza was happy with the way the workout went and also with the way his mount handled the unplanned company.
“When I want company, I can’t find it. When I don’t, it’s always in there,” the jockey said with a laugh. “But he was good. He’s going to get better. He didn’t get too aggressive. He was competitive, but not aggressive. It was great. It was a good work for him.”
Gaines said she would likely bring Smokey Image back in six days for his next workout, Feb. 21 at Santa Anita.
Also on the worktab for Gaines was Warren Williamson’s homebred multiple graded stakes winner Nashoba’s Gold, who breezed five furlongs in 1:00 4/5. Winner of the 2014 Providencia (gr. IIIT) and Honeymoon (gr. IIT), the 5-year-old Smart Strike mare could make her 2016 debut in the Feb. 20 Buena Vista (gr. IIT), a race in which she finished sixth last year.