Michael Lund Petersen's Mor Spirit (Eskendereya), winner of the GI Los Alamitos Futurity and GIII Robert B. Lewis S., breezed five furlongs in :59.80 [2/18] Tuesday morning at Churchill Downs. Working in company with stablemate Jimbo Fallon (Midnight Lute), the dark bay posted eighth-mile splits of :11.40, :22.40, :34.20 and :46 flat en-route to galloping out six furlongs in 1:13.20 and seven furlongs in 1:27 with regular pilot Gary Stevens aboard. It was the Bob Baffert trainee's first workout since finishing second behind Exaggerator (Curlin) in the Apr. 9 GI Santa Anita Derby.
“Loved the work,” said Stevens, who has three Kentucky Derby victories to his name. “The work went great. He was very aggressive going to the pole, which is not always him. He's a little quirky sometimes. Bob put a little more blinkers on him this morning to get him a little more focused and it did the job. He went to the pole aggressive, was aggressive throughout the work, he galloped out strong into the backstretch.”
Likewise, Baffert said he was also pleased with the workout–the Pennsylvania-bred's first since arriving to Churchill Downs last Friday.
“He worked well today,” Baffert said. “He's never been a real willing worker. He got a good work today, seems like [Gary Stevens] didn't go too hard on him. This track is pretty quick, but it was good for him, he got into it. When Gary worked him a few weeks ago he started off slow and kind of lost interest. The surface is really kind on him, he likes the surface.”
Mor Spirit has one previous start over the Churchill main track, a runner-up finish in the slop behind Airoforce (Colonel John) in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. last November.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
