Welsch dismissed Hard Spun’s work as too fast, and was stunned when the colt hung on to finish second to Street Sense. Welsch, though, did not see that desire to go farther that he had seen in Street Sense.īut Larry Jones, who put a colt named Hard Spun through a similar work in 2007, trains Friesan Fire. Friesan Fire, the Louisiana Derby winner, blistered five-eighths of a mile on Monday in 57.80 seconds, which is wicked fast. Welsch is befuddled by at least one contender. “I want to see him on this track,” he said. He is curious about Dunkirk, who arrived here Tuesday from Florida. He says Pioneerof the Nile has trained O.K., but not well enough to inspire fear or confidence. While the bulk of the training has been completed by most of the Derby horses, Welsch has not landed on a favorite. He picked him, but it did not move the horse’s price: Denis of Cork went off at 27-1, and finished third. Instead, he became enamored with the efficiency of motion shown each morning by a horse named Denis of Cork. Last year, for example, Welsch had Big Brown pegged as the horse to beat, but he saw nothing in the morning that even whispered, “Bet me,” especially as a short-priced favorite. In fact, the clocker’s clocker thinks this is about as muddled a Derby field that he has seen at least among the contenders. “But, no, he hasn’t separated himself from the others in the morning.” “If you liked him coming into the Derby, I Want Revenge has done nothing to make you get off him,” Welsch said. Welsch liked I Want Revenge’s move Tuesday better than the five-eighths-of-a-mile work last week in 1:01. “I think we accomplished what we wanted to do today.” “We got to let him do what he normally does,” Mullins said. Mainly, you have to pay attention and tune out the upbeat and often nonsensical babble of trainers who like to say that all their horses work wonderfully.Įxhibit A is Jeff Mullins, the trainer of I Want Revenge, who watched his colt go a half-mile in 47.20 seconds Tuesday morning. The morning workouts are not exactly like deciphering the Rosetta stone.
#DRF CLOCKER REPORT CRACKED#
The next year, Street Sense took the track for his final work with Calvin Borel aboard, and Welsch’s stopwatch nearly cracked because he was gripping it so excitedly. Welsch watched Barbaro glide effortlessly atop the dirt oval here in 2006, and knew he had found his Derby winner.
#DRF CLOCKER REPORT WINDOWS#
His observations about what goes on in training in the morning have led many a horseplayer to the mutuel windows on Derby afternoon. Welsch writes its Clocker’s Report, and he has been called the E.
“I want to see a workout from a horse that just screams: ‘Bet me,’ ” said Welsch, who has been clocking the Derby horses for the Daily Racing Form, widely considered the horseplayers’ Bible, since 2000. He is watching the Kentucky Derby contenders jog, gallop and breeze listening, really for one thing. Mike Welsch is standing in the dark on the rail at Churchill Downs with the collar of his windbreaker pulled up to his ears and a stopwatch clutched in his hand.
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