War Pass Back To Work

War Pass, the likely champion two year-
old male, breezed three furlongs
at Palm Meadows Training Center on
Thursday morning in his first workout
since his victory in the Bessemer
Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) for
owner Robert LaPenta.
The undefeated Cherokee Run colt
was clocked in :37, the fifth fastest time
of 14 moves at the distance.
“He worked real nice doing it,” trainer
Nick Zito said. “He was just in a gallop.”
Zito and LaPenta are plotting a schedule for War Pass to race
three times leading up to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum!
Brands (G1). Zito has tentatively selected the Tampa Bay Derby
(G3) on March 15 and the Wood Memorial Stakes (G1) on April 8
as the final two preps. He will wait until War Pass gets farther along
in his training before he picks out the first.
“We’ll play it by ear for the first one,” Zito said. “[The Tampa Bay
Derby and Wood Memorial] make sense to me. We’ll see if we can
go the mile-and-a-quarter.”
—Jeff Lowe