A
decision on whether to start Kentucky Derby runner-up Nehro in
Saturday’s Preakness or await the 143rd running of the Grade 1, $1
million Belmont Stakes on June 11 will most likely be made Monday morning, said
owner Ahmad Zayat.
“I
am leaving for Louisville
in a few hours and I will be there to watch the horse breeze at Churchill Downs
at 6 a.m. Monday,” said Zayat this morning. “Right now I am 70-30 to run in the
Belmont
and 50-50 to run in the Preakness. He’s had three good races in six weeks; if
he goes in the Preakness it will be four races in eight weeks.
“However,
he is doing very well. His coat, his energy level, his demeanor have all been
excellent since the Derby,”
he said of Nehro, who was second in both the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby and the
Grade 1 Arkansas Derby. “After he breezes Monday I will sit down with [trainer]
Steve Asmussen and make a decision as to where we go.”
Zayat
reiterated that he is “not without ammunition” for the 1 ½ mile Belmont
Stakes, however.
“We
have been pointing Jaycito to the Belmont,
as well,” said Zayat of the colt, a son of 1998 Belmont Stakes winner Victory
Gallop. “We are hoping he will have enough fitness in him.”
Trained
by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Jaycito won the Grade 1 Norfolk as a juvenile and
finished second to Premier Pegasus in the Grade 2 San Felipe on March 12 in his
line start as a 3-year-old before being sidelined by a foot bruise that knocked
him off the Derby
trail.
Another
Baffert trainee, The Factor, is also scheduled to breeze Monday morning
at Churchill Downs. Seventh in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on April 16, after
which he underwent a myectomy, The Factor is targeting the Grade 1 Woody
Stephens presented by VisitNassauCounty.com on the Belmont Stakes day undercard.