Went The Day Well will be shipped to Pimlico earlier than expected
Team Valor International’s last year’s Kentucky Derby winner, Animal Kingdom, made a five wide effort in the stretch for the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes and finished half a length adrift of the winner, Shackleford.
The move was a perfect one, but had it not been a slow start for Animal Kingdom to begin the Preakness Stakes, we would right now be looking at a horse, who had won the Derby and the Preakness in a long time, but trainer Graham Motion partly blame his decision of shipping Animal Kingdom to Baltimore on race day, a mistake he is not going to make with the year’s Kentucky Derby fourth place finisher, Went The Day Well.
Team Valor International and Mark Ford’s Went The Day Well wasn’t expected to do what he did in the Derby, but under John Velazquez the New York bred colt has thrived.
Currently at Fair Hill Training Center near Elkton, Maryland, Went The Day Well jogged and galloped in the field, and right now the plan for the 3-year-old Proud Citizen colt is to gallop through the weekend, and after that there will be a decision made on what to do.
"He jogged two turns in a field behind my barn and galloped two turns," said trainer Graham Motion, whose colt closed strongly after early trouble to finish fourth in the Kentucky Derby. "I'll probably take him up to the track tomorrow and gallop him a mile."
Graham Motion is adamant on not repeating the mistakes he made with Animal Kingdom, especially regarding the track, that he says he misread last time around.
The veteran trainer is going to ship Went The Day Well early and train him on the outside of the Pimlico dirt track – which he failed to do with Animal Kingdom.
"I think I found the track a little different last year, particularly towards the outside. It's something I want to get him used to, plus he's kind of an immature acting horse and I want to get him used to his surroundings," Motion said.
Went The Day Well followed the Derby trail that Animal Kingdom did last year and won it, but with immense potential Went The Day Well can make it up for his Derby loss in the Preakness.
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