Caracortado worked five furlongs under Zoe Cadman on Santa Anita’s
fast main track
Sunday in a bullet 57.80 for next Sunday’s Grade III, $100,000 Daytona
Stakes for older horses at about 6 ½ furlongs on turf. It was the
fastest of 37 drills at the distance, for which the average time was
1:00.91.
When Caracortado does run, he’ll have a new rider: Rafael
Bejarano. Joe Talamo had ridden the California-bred son of Cat Dreams in
his last 10 races, winning the Sunshine Millions Turf on Jan. 29 last
year and the Grade II Del Mar Mile last August 27.
As for the workout, trainer Mike Machowsky said it was a tad faster than planned.
“It was a little quicker than I wanted, but he went nice and easy,” Machowsky said. “He was
bouncing. He had a good three-quarters last week so I just went five-eighths today.”
Advised that the prospective field could include a Breeders’ Cup
winner, Regally Ready; downhill specialist Mr Gruff; and Calimonco, a
consistent son of Storm Cat, Machowsky said, “That’s fine. Bring ‘em
on.”
Probable for the Daytona: Calimonco, Mike Smith; Caracortado, Rafael Bejarano; Mr
Gruff, Joel Rosario; and Regally Ready, Corey Nakatani.
Regally Ready worked five furlongs on Santa Anita’s fast main
track Sunday in 1:02.20 under
the direction of Steve Asmussen assistant Scott Blasi. Mr Gruff worked
six furlongs Saturday on Hollywood Park’s Cushion Track in 1:12.80 for
Ron Ellis.