ENFORCEABLE–John Oxley’s Enforceable galloped about a mile and a half under assistant trainer David Carrollon Monday, two days after breezing a half-mile in his final serious move in preparation for the Kentucky Derby.“He’s in great shape, this is the best he’s trained,” Carroll said.
High expectations literally run in the family where Enforceable is concerned as he is a full brother to graded stakes winner Mohaymen–the fourth-place finisher in the 2016 Kentucky Derby –and a half sibling to New Year’s Day, sire of champion Maximum Security, who crossed the wire in front in the 2019 Kentucky Derby before being disqualified because of interference.
After finishing fifth in the Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (GII) on March 21, however, Enforceable was a horse who needed all the extra time he could get if he were to make his own presence felt in the Run for the Roses.“Oh if it (the Kentucky Derby) had been in May, he wouldn’t have ran,” trainer Mark Casse said of Enforceable.
“He came out of the Louisiana Derby tired and beat up and there is no way that I would have ran him in the Derby. It took him a long time. We brought him home (to Ocala, Florida) and it took us about two months to get back to where I was happy training him.
”Enforceable returned to run fourth in the July 11 Blue Grass Stakes (GII), a finish his Hall of Fame trainer feels is better than it looks given that the colt was basically on the farm for two months.“I kind of feel like each day, he’s gotten bigger and better. And his race in the Blue Grass, I thought it was a good race,” Casse said.“Obviously speed is dangerous at Keeneland and there was no way that he could have been 100 percent ready for that given that he had two months off. I thought it was a good comeback race. He was probably 80-85 percent and I feel he’s 100 percent now. That’s why we’re trying it.”
Photo Credit: Churchill Downs/Coady Photography
