Jacks or Better Farm Inc.'s Fellowship (Awesome of Course), who sits at No.19 on the GI Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 32 points, remains under consideration for the May 7 classic after switching barns from former trainer Stanley Gold to new conditioner Mark Casse. How the Florida-bred colt trains at Churchill Downs will ultimately determine his Derby status.
“It's not like we're really 100% sure just yet,” assistant trainer Norman Casse said Friday morning. “We're going to breeze him and if he's doing well then we'll run, and if we don't think he's training well, then there's no pressure to run him. But so far so good. He's been training well since he got here. He's just been galloping for the past couple of days. We'll probably breeze him Sunday or Monday if he continues to do well.”
Fellowship is coming off a trio of third-place efforts in the GII Holy Bull, GII Xpressbet.com Fountain of Youth and GI Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park. Should he opt not to race in the Kentucky Derby, Casse was unsure as to where they would run him.
“I don't know any backup plans yet, we'll just see how he trains and then pick something out for him,” he said, “but right now it's the Derby, and if he's not training well, then maybe we'll back off of him and find something else for him.”
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