Travers entrant Friend Or Foe continued his
preparations Thursday morning, going for a “two-minute lick” through the
stretch during training hours and schooling in the paddock just after 11 a.m.
Sent out at 6 a.m., he took the long way to the main track,
walking over to and through the paddock before backing up to the eighth pole,
then jogging around to begin his gallop at the seven-eighths pole.
“He two-minute-licked from the three-eighths pole all the
way back around to the seven-eighths pole. We just wanted to let him stretch
his legs, he was real happy,” said trainer John Kimmel. “He stood in the gate
yesterday and he was great, paddock schooled today. We’ve pretty much crossed
all the t’s and dotted the i’s. He’ll go out tomorrow for a normal gallop, and
he’ll jog a mile and a half the morning of the race, and that’s about it.”
Kimmel trains Friend Or Foe for Chester
and Mary Broman, who bred the colt, and his sire, Friends Lake,
whom Kimmel also trained. Both Friend Or Foe and Friends
Lake are New York-breds, foaled on the
Bromans’ Chestertown, N.Y. Farm.
“[Winning the Travers] with a New York-bred would be a
little bit special, especially since I trained the father,” Kimmel said. “I
think it shows you that you can raise a good horse in New York and be able to compete in Grade 1
company. Anybody that looks at [Friend Or Foe’s] form would have to think
that’s on a real upswing. He’s lightly raced, and he didn’t drop off on his
speed figure going from seven-eighths to 1 1/8th miles, which I
really like to see. He had a little bit of trouble [when fourth in the Grade 2
Jim Dandy], and there are a lot of reasons for me to be optimistic that he can
move forward.”