War Emblem Is Ready for Battle

In his first workout since winning the Preakness, War Emblem was clocked in 1:003/5 for five furlongs Wednesday at Churchill Downs, where he will remain until three days before he tries to win the Belmont Stakes and sweep the Triple Crown.

With Dana Barnes, trainer Bob Baffert’s ace exercise rider, aboard, War Emblem went through splits of :123/5, :244/5 and :482/5 en route to his final time. Unofficially, he galloped out six furlongs in 1:131/5 and seven furlongs in 1:263/5.

“It looks like he hasn’t lost it,” Baffert said after the work. “It was a good work for the way he did it. He could have gone a lot faster.”

Churchill Downs is where War Emblem’s improbable Triple Crown chase began.

At 20-1--and less than a month after the Saudi Arabian prince Ahmed Salman bought him for $900,000--he won the Kentucky Derby by four lengths in rare gate-to-wire fashion on May 4. Two weeks later, War Emblem was favored as he added a three-quarter-length victory in the Preakness at Pimlico.

A victory in the $1-million Belmont Stakes in New York on June 8 would make him the 12th Triple Crown champion and the first since Affirmed in 1978. There’s a $5-million bonus attached to winning all three races.

Baffert has been this way before, winning the Derby and the Preakness with Silver Charm in 1997 and again with Real Quiet in 1998, but both horses finished second in the Belmont. Baffert will follow the same pre-Belmont routine with War Emblem as he did with those two colts, stabling him at Churchill Downs until a few days before the race. War Emblem is scheduled to work again Tuesday, and will be flown to New York the next day.

Another horse flying to New York from Kentucky will be Sarava, winner of the Sir Barton Stakes at Pimlico on Preakness day. Trainer Ken McPeek, who finished seventh in the Derby with Harlan’s Holiday, the race favorite, and ran fourth in the Preakness, feels that he has a legitimate chance with a fresh horse.

“I think War Emblem is beatable this time,” McPeek said.

“I’ve got a good, solid horse with a big, long stride who’s coming to hand at the right time.”

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The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club’s board of directors unanimously agreed Wednesday to oppose the proposed transfer of the Los Angeles County Fair’s racing dates from Fairplex Park to Santa Anita.

The L.A. County Fair Association has agreed to lease the Arcadia racetrack for the Fair’s meet to be held Sept. 13-29.

The California Horse Racing Board, which must approve the Santa Anita-Fairplex deal, will meet June 6.

The Del Mar group believes there would be a negative impact from having a 17-day meet at Santa Anita only two days after Del Mar’s summer meeting ends Sept. 11.

Associated Press