Churchill Downs confirmed Sunday that Hot Springs Stakes winner Clever Again completed a five-eighths of a mile workout in 1:00.40 as he prepares for the GI Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 17.
“[It was a] solid work. The racetrack is in very good shape,” said trainer Steve Asmussen, who previously captured the Preakness with Horses of the Year Curlin (2007) and Rachel Alexandra (2009). “I think he’ll actually do a little more next week.”
Asmussen currently trains multiple high-profile 3-year-olds, including Kentucky Derby contenders Publisher (American Pharoah) and Tiztastic (Tiz the Law), along with Magnitude (Not This Time). Magnitude, winner of the GII Risen Star Stakes, was forced to miss the Run for the Roses following his stakes victory.
“I think Clever Again is like Publisher and Magnitude and Magnitude and Tiztastic,” Asmussen said. “He’s been keeping that company his whole life. When you’re afforded the opportunity to train horses like that you realize what they are capable of and what they should and shouldn’t go in.”
The American Pharoah colt finished as runner-up in his career debut at Keeneland last fall, going 4 1/2 furlongs. He broke his maiden in his 3-year-old debut on February 23, winning a 1 1/16 miles contest at Oaklawn Park.
In the Hot Springs Stakes, his first attempt at a two-turn mile, Clever Again dominated by four lengths over Grade I winner Gaming (Game Winner).
“I think the farther he goes, the better he’ll be,” Asmussen noted. “He’s very quick, but he has a tremendous cruising speed. I don’t think we’ve been anywhere near the bottom of him. He ran a very fast race at a mile and a sixteenth. Don’t think the distance will be any issue.”
Clever Again shares the same ownership structure as GII Louisiana Derby winner Tiztastic, with Winchell Thoroughbreds owning 50% and the remaining half held by the partnership of Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith.
“Off of the Hot Springs and the number that he ran and beating a Grade I winner in there, it was easy to make a decision on what would be next for him,” Asmussen said regarding the colt’s targeting of the 1 3/16-mile Preakness.
