With trainer Alexis Barba looking on, Make Music for Me
had his first breeze at Belmont Park Sunday morning, covering a mile in 1:43.65
in preparation for the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes on June 5.
The other Belmont
hopeful on the work tab was Grade 2 Dwyer runner-up Drosselmeyer, who
went six furlongs in 1:14.10 for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.
While the times appeared slow, both Barba and Mott felt the
main track was somewhat deep and said they were satisfied with the moves. Make
Music for Me's breeze was the only one at a mile, while Drosselmeyer's was the
faster of two at six furlongs, with workmate Raging Wit covering the distance
in 1:15.24
“I’m not used to the times here, but he’s fine,” said Barba,
who is more familiar with the synthetic surfaces in southern California,
where she is based. “The track is deep, and it’s what we needed to do. It’s a
good time to get a good workout in him.”
The move was the third for Make Music for Me since his
last-to-fourth performance in the Kentucky Derby, having breezed a half-mile in
48.60 on May 10 and five furlongs in 1:03.20 on May 16, both over the synthetic
surface at Keeneland.
Barba said the colt, owned by Peter and Ellen Johnson, would
walk, jog and gallop until his next breeze on May 30.
Mott, who will be saddling his fifth Belmont Stakes starter
and first since Vision and Verse finished second in 1999, said the WinStar Farm
colt’s work was “visually impressive.”
“By the stopwatch it was slow, but we thought it was a
useful work, considering the track was quite slow,” said Mott. “It was a good,
steady work, he went by his company when he was supposed to, and he galloped
out well.”
The Distorted Humor colt, who has not been off the board in
eight lifetime starts, will work again next weekend for the 1 ½ mile Belmont,
said Mott.
First Dude, runner-up in the Preakness, jogged over
the main track Sunday morning under Tammy Fox, and will gallop 1 ½ miles daily
until Saturday’s scheduled work, said the exercise rider.
“He seemed to handle it fine,” said Fox, who is overseeing
First Dude’s Belmont preparations
until trainer Dale Roman’s arrival on Friday. A son of Stephen Got Even owned
by Donald R. Dizney, First Dude is 1-2-1 from five starts this year, having
broken his maiden at Gulfstream Park
on January 30.
A field of ten is shaping up for the final leg of racing’s
Triple Crown, including the Bob Baffert-trained Game On Dude, Stately
Victor, Stay Put, Uptowncharlybrown, Spangled Star and
the Nick Zito-trained duo of Fly Down and Ice Box.
Saturday at Saratoga,
Fly Down went a half-mile in 49.40.