Several runners being pointed to opening weekend stakes turned in works Sunday morning over the fast main track.
Dixiana Farms' homebred Hayes Strike (Connect) along with Mendelssohns March (Mendelssohn), owned by Harold Lerner, Nehoc Stables, AWC Stables and Team Stallion Racing Stable, tuned up for expected starts in Saturday's GI Toyota Blue Grass S. by working 5 furlongs in 1:00.60 in company together.
Hayes Strike comes into the 1 1/8-mile Blue Grass off a victory in the Private Terms S. at Laurel March 18.
“I don't run many horses in Maryland,” trainer Kenny McPeek said of Hayes Strike. “His race at Turfway (in the Leonatus Stakes on Jan. 21 in which he finished ninth) … nothing went right. He didn't ship well, and he didn't handle the synthetic surface at all. I just needed to get him back on the dirt and get him back to winning.”
Mendelssohns March has two wins in two starts with victories on the turf at Fair Grounds and on a sloppy dirt track at Oaklawn Park.
McPeek is the most recent of six trainers to have swept the GI Central Bank Ashland and Toyota Blue Grass in the same year. McPeek, who first accomplished the double in 2002 with Take Charge Lady and Harlan's Holiday, is expected to send out Magdalena Racing, Colette Marie Vanmatre and James Ball's Defining Purpose (Cross Traffic) in the Ashland. Defining Purpose worked 5 furlongs in 1:00.20.
Half-mile workers included Mr. and Mrs. Tsunebumi Yoshihara's Yuugiri (Shackleford) who went in :48.80 in preparation for the GI Madison S. for trainer Rodolphe Brisset; Tom Durant's Run Classic (Runhappy) who worked a half in :47.80 for the GIII Commonwealth S. for trainer Bret Calhoun; and Michael J. Ryan's Be Your Best (Ire) (Muhaarar {GB}) in :49.80 for the GII Appalachian S. for trainer Horacio De Paz.
Also working Sunday morning was West Coast Stables' Pride of the Nile (Pioneerof the Nile), currently 28th on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks with 17 points, who drilled 6 furlongs in 1:16 on the main track under Ferrin Peterson for trainer Doug O'Neill in preparation for Friday's GI Central Bank Ashland S. Pride of the Nile shipped to Keeneland the middle of last month after a troubled trip in the GIII Santa Ysabel at Santa Anita March 5.
“I was glad to get her,” said Stephanie Murray, who oversees the O'Neill string at Keeneland. “Today was her third work here. The first time, she worked on the (all-weather) training track because of the rain.”
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