St Elias Stable homebred Known Agenda (Curlin) appears to have exited his victory in Saturday's GI Curlin Florida Derby in good order. “Excellent. He came back in great shape, good energy. I'm very happy with him,” trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday. “He'll stay here for a little while. We'll just kind of monitor the weather everywhere and play it by ear whether he has one work at Churchill [Downs] or two works [before the GI Kentucky Derby.”
Third in December's GII Remsen S., the son of GISW Byrama (GB) (Byron {GB}) was fifth as the favorite from far back in the GIII Sam F. Davis S. Feb. 6 at Tampa Bay Downs. He got a confidence builder while adding blinkers and annexing a Gulfstream optional claimer by 11 lengths two back Feb. 26.
“He's made a lot of progress in his last two starts,” Pletcher said. “I think the addition of blinkers has been part of it, and part of it is he's getting more experienced and more comfortable in those scenarios when he's behind horses and inside of horses and taking some dirt.
“I've been pleased with the way he's been able to get a better position in the race and improve his position going along. We've always had a strong feeling that added distance was going to be to his liking. To have three wins at a mile and an eighth now is great, and we feel great about him stretching out even farther.”
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