You are here
Tale of Ekati Prepares for Belmont Stakes
Exercise rider Kristen Troxell rides Tale of Ekati for a workout at Churchill Downs. (AP Images)
Today, Tale of Ekati was preparing for the June 7 Belmont Stakes and what a workout he had! He sped 46.84 seconds over a distance offour furlongs at Belmont Park’s main track.
"It was a little quick," said Robbin Smullen, assistant to Barclay Tagg, who conditions the Tale of the Cat runner. "But he did it very easily, and could not have blown out a match afterward. I was on the pony, and cantered over to him pretty quickly after the work. He was a little sharp. It had been (a while) since his last work, and he gets a little sharp. But he ate up everything at lunch and has head is in the (tub) now.”
"Nobody thinks 'Oh my God' when he goes that quick with her," Smullen said. "He is a pretty deceiving horse. I haven’t breezed him, but he is a very, very fast horse, but he doesn’t feel like he is going that fast.”
Tale of Ekati, who is owned by his breeder, Charles Fipke, and he placed a very respectable fourth in the Kentucky Derby on May 3. Before the Derby, he won the Wood Memorial in a victory over the now-sidelined War Pass, who was last year’s champion 2-year-old male.
"We usually work about 10 days after a race, but we thought he needed a little extra time considering the ship to New York after the Derby, and we weren't pointing for the Preakness, so that might have left him a little sharp. When I picked him up with the pony, he was squealing and bucking. He was happy to do something."
Tale of Ekati will have two more works before the Belmont Stakes on June 7th. Smullen said Eibar Coa, who rode the colt in the Derby, will have the mount in the Belmont Stakes.
Tale of Ekati may be the one to take away the possibility of a Triple Crown win for Big Brown, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner. Get your Belmont odds in the Bodog Racebook today.