Afleet Alex

Kentucky Derby hopeful Afleet Alex, who finished sixth in the $250,000 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park on March 19, showed no lingering signs of a lung infection after being examined on Monday. "He was scoped [an endoscopic examination] after he galloped," trainer Tim Ritchey told the Daily Racing Form yesterday. "There was no sign of any infection. " Delaware Park-based Afleet Alex received antibiotics following the Rebel, a prep race for the $1 million Arkansas Derby on April 16. Ritchey said he may need to reevaluate his plans.

Afleet Alex was made the 7-5 program favorite for yesterday's $50,000 Mountain Valley Stakes at Oaklawn Park. That, of course, would have been a bargain. "I would have bet a lot," trainer Tim Ritchey said of the surprisingly high morning-line odds. "So would I," jockey Jeremy Rose added. As expected, Delaware Park-based Afleet Alex went off at much lower odds. And as expected, Afleet Alex, as the 1-5 favorite, easily handled five rivals in the Mountain Valley, a 6-furlong race that launched the colt's 3-year-old campaign.

Angel Cordero Jr., the agent for jockey John Velazquez, called trainer Tim Ritchey yesterday morning to assure him that Velazquez would return to Oaklawn Park April 16 to ride Afleet Alex in the Arkansas Derby. Afleet Alex finished last in the field of six in Saturday's Rebel Stakes, won by Greater Good by one-half length over Rockport Harbor. Ritchey reported afterward that Afleet Alex was suffering from a lung infection and would be treated with antibiotics for a week before returning to training.

Down at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., they're getting the idea that Tim Ritchey might make a pretty fair poker player. The Delaware Park-based trainer of top Kentucky Derby contender Afleet Alex kept it pretty hush-hush that he wanted to put his colt in a six-furlong race tomorrow. But when the entries came out yesterday for the $50,000 Mountain Valley Stakes at Oaklawn, Afleet Alex was among them. He is ready to make his 3-year-old debut, with Jeremy Rose riding, in Afleet Alex's first race since placing second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

Afleet Alex, third in the Kentucky Derby and the expected Preakness favorite, jogged a mile and galloped 2 miles under exercise rider Salamon Diego yesterday. Afleet Alex remains the only Preakness starter at Pimlico. "The most important thing is he's training over the track where he's going to run," trainer Tim Ritchey said. Meanwhile, Giacomo galloped a mile at Churchill Downs yesterday, and trainer John Shirreffs pronounced his Kentucky Derby winner ready for next Saturday's Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown.

Possible Kentucky Derby favorite Afleet Alex worked five furlongs in 59 seconds yesterday at Churchill Downs in preparation for the May 7 Run for the Roses. The Delaware Park-based colt's fractions were 12 2/5 seconds, 24, 35 2/5, and 46 3/5, with a six-furlong gallop-out in 1 minute, 12 2/5 seconds. It was the fastest workout of the 29 horses going that distance and 1 2/5 seconds better than the second-fastest work. "Everything was exactly what we wanted," trainer Tim Ritchey told Bloodhorse.

Five years ago, their horse was dazzling in the Preakness Stakes. Sports Illustrated called it the horse-racing performance of the decade. Afleet Alex almost went to his knees after clipping heels with a horse named Scrappy T before righting himself and running away with the Preakness. Five years later, a son of Afleet Alex - Dublin, who finished seventh in the Kentucky Derby and is 10-1 in the Preakness morning line, trained by D. Wayne Lukas - is slated to leave the Preakness starting gate.

Kentucky Derby hopeful Afleet Alex had an impressive workout yesterday at Oaklawn Park with jockey Jeremy Rose aboard, showing no signs of the lung infection that helped cause his last-place finish in the March 19 Rebel Stakes. Delaware Park-based Afleet Alex finished the five-furlong workout in 58.3 seconds, including fractions of 12.3, 24.2, 35 and the half mile in 46.1. A field of 11 or 12 is expected for Saturday's $1 million Arkansas Derby, with the draw being held today. Afleet Alex, however, is also nominated for the $75,000 Northern Spur Breeders' Cup Stakes at one mile Saturday.

Finally, some Kentucky Derby buzz. From Florida to Arkansas to California, 3-year-olds were out in force Saturday trying to show whether they truly are contenders for the Derby just 2 months away. Afleet Alex and Declan's Moon won in their long-awaited seasonal debuts, while High Fly soared to victory in the 1 1/8-mile Fountain of Youth Stakes at Florida's Gulfstream Park. The results solidified Afleet Alex and Declan's Moon's rankings as 1-2 in the latest Run to the Roses' Top 10, while High Fly moves in for the first time at No. 4. Alex Afleet won the Mountain Valley Stakes at Hot Springs, Ark., while Declan's Moon won the $200,000 Santa Catalina Stakes in Arcadia, Calif.

You think Afleet Alex trainer Tim Ritchey was satisfied with his horse's final workout before the Kentucky Derby? Right after yesterday morning's half-mile breeze, Ritchey was still on the track on his pony when he pulled an Afleet Alex button out of his pocket and flipped it to a fan who had been cheering for the horse along the rail. The colt from Delaware Park breezed the half-mile at Churchill Downs in 48 2/5 seconds, exactly what Ritchey had told Afleet Alex's owners he was looking for. "He warmed up properly, finished very well, [going the last furlong]

Joseph Judge, 70, a first-time horse owner as part of the group that owned 2005 Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Afleet Alex, died Sunday of complications from cancer. Mr. Judge had never owned a horse when a friend, Chuck Zacney, approached him to be part of a group to buy a thoroughbred or two. Mr. Judge didn't mind betting on horses, but he initially said no. "He wanted to retire," Barbara Judge, Mr. Judge's wife, said Monday. "He didn't want to take that chance, that anything would stop him from retiring.

Keith Jones is about to embark on a perfect summer vacation. Give him a couple of beers and some ponies, and he's in heaven. The NBC Sports studio analyst and former Flyer is the most visible part of a group that owns more than a dozen horses, but for the last nine months, he's been all hockey, all the time. He's seen more ice than a Wildwood bartender on Memorial Day weekend. As the Stanley Cup finals wound down and post-time at the Belmont neared, Jones took a breather to talk hockey, horseflesh and Wiki-pranks with SportsWeek's Ed Barkowitz.

I got the horse right here, The name is Paul Revere . . . Can do, can do - From "Guys and Dolls"   Your first thought is, Lord but he's big. Freight train big. And that white blaze that runs down his forehead, it reminds you of a lightning bolt. Could it be an omen? Is this, at long last, The One? Steady there, Pilgrim. Throttle back. We know you're ready to fall in love all over again, that you've been standing out here in the rain waiting forlornly and forever and a day for the next Big Red. But it's not fair, and you ought not to be saddling this one with all your Secretariat expectations.

IT IS NOW TIME. After nearly 4 months away from the races and 6 weeks away from the racetrack, Union Rags is back Sunday at Gulfstream Park in South Florida. The colt, now 3 years old and a giant at nearly 17 hands, will race in the $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes against what is the most difficult field of 3-year-olds assembled in 2012. They call these prep races for a reason. It is not about the last Sunday in February. It is about the first Saturday in May. So, the "what" (the result)

L OUISVILLE, Ky. - Horses with Parx Racing connections were all over the two Breeders' Cup cards at Churchill Downs. If there had been a vote before the proceedings, the horse chosen "least likely to succeed" probably would have been Afleet Again. The 4-year-old son of 2005 Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Afleet Alex had not won since April 2010. The losing streak had reached 11 when some of the original Afleet Alex group decided to sell to a group from Freehold, N.J. The streak was 13 when Afleet Again came out of the gate in Saturday's $500,000 Marathon.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A 41-1 shot stabled at Parx Racing began Saturday's Breeders' Cup races with a bang, pulling off the day's biggest upset in the Breeders' Cup's longest race. Afleet Again, a son of Afleet Alex recently sold by some of the sire's owners to Robert and Susan Krangel's Kasey K Racing Stable - and trained by Bensalem's Butch Reid all along - won the 1¾- mile $500,000 Marathon by 2¼ lengths. The colt is the first horse stabled at Parx - or PhiladelphiaPark or any of its previous incarnations - to ever win a Breeders' Cup race and was the longest shot in the Marathon field after failing to see the winner's circle in his last 13 starts.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Breeders' Cup will be run for the 28th time Friday and Saturday at Churchill Downs. Through the years, there have certainly been horses with Delaware Valley connections in the races, but nothing close to this year. Union Rags, in the Juvenile, and Havre de Grace, in the Classic, are the local headliners. Union Rags is owned and trained by Pennsylvanians (Phyllis Wyeth and Michael Matz, respectively). Havre de Grace is owned by Wilmington's Rick Porter and trained all summer at Delaware Park.

YOU CAN WATCH a few thousand races and never see anything quite like Union Rags' performance in Saturday's Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park. If there was any doubt whether this area is back with a top Kentucky Derby contender, there is no doubt now. You can now speak about Union Rags in the same terms as Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex and Barbaro. The unbeaten colt will be pointed for the 2012 Derby. First, on Nov. 5 at Churchill Downs, in a very nice dress rehearsal with a $2 million purse, Union Rags will be the heavy favorite in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

IT WILL BE 6 years next spring when our string of Triple Crown race winners ended in the Preakness with Barbaro's devastating injury. From the 2004 Kentucky Derby through the 2006 Derby, local horses won five of the seven Triple Crown races and lost the other two by 1 length. That was two each of Derby and Preakness and one Belmont Stakes for Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex and Barbaro. It began with no warning and ended the same way. A bit after 5:15 tomorrow afternoon on the western tip of Long Island, the next colt that could get Philly to the Derby runs in the Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park.

THE 2011 Triple Crown did not produce any stars. No Smarty Jones, Afleet Alex or Big Brown. The second half of the 3-year-old season begins Sunday in the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park. The Preakness and Belmont Stakes winners will be in the starting gate. So will six other horses. Perhaps, a star will emerge soon. It is almost 2 months to the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing. But the Sept. 24 race could end up being the most significant race outside the Triple Crown.