Paynter on a serious work tab - posted a bullet five furlong work ahead of the Belmont Stakes
Zayat Stables owned monster of a 3-year-old, Bodemeister, will not be representing neither his connections nor his trainer, Bob Baffert, in the Grade 1, $1 million Belmont Stakes at the Big Sandy on 9 June, 2012, solely because his two attempts weren’t enough
to hold back I’ll Have Another from winning the first and the middle jewel of the Triple Crown.
Bodemeister is aiming at the Saratoga meet, and will probably target the Grade 1 Test Stakes to continue his 2012 campaign, but Ahmed Zayat and Bob Baffert will eventually have a say in the outcome of the Belmont Stakes, with their colt, Paynter - ready
to do what Bodemeister failed to do twice.
The 3-year-old Awesome Again colt is at Belmont Park, and on 27 May, 2012, Paynter turned in a bullet work over the Big Sandy’s fast main track.
On 27 May, 2012, Paynter’s preparations took a little turn to the extreme, when he posted five furlongs in 59.26 seconds under exercise rider Simon Harris.
The Kentucky bred colt went fastest than 38 others recorded over the same distance.
“He worked nice,” said Jim Barnes, assistant to Baffert. “We were planning on the main track, but they sealed the main track, so we opted for the training track. They went out at 9:30, after the second (track maintenance) break. Bob told me to go in a minute,
and that’s about as close to a minute as I can get.”
Out of Cee’s Tizzy mare Tizso, Paynter broke his maiden at first asking, going five and half furlongs at Santa Anita Park.
Paynter ran a big race in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby in fourth to winner I’ll Have Another, where he showed his true potential that he can compete at this level, and with no plans for the Kentucky Derby, Paynter ran another huge race in the Grade 3 Derby
Trial Stakes.
On 19 May, 2012, Paynter poster a front-running victory in an allowance race at Pimlico, over a distance of 1 1/16 miles under jockey Mike Smith, and it seems that he is ready to go all out in the Belmont Stakes.
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