Mine That Bird's Future Plans

Now we know. Mine That Bird's next race will be the West Virginia Derby on August 1 at Mountaineer Racetrack. The race is a Grade II mile and a eighth test and the purse is $750,000.

After that, the plan is to head for Saratoga and the Travers. "The West Virginia Derby fits our schedule the best and that's the main thing," trainer Chip Woolley told the New York Times. "From there we will go to the Travers, with the ultimate goal being the Breeder's Cup Classic."

Conventional wisdom holds that the West Virginia Derby will be an easier contest for the Kentucky Derby winner. Rachel Alexandra is expected to, once again, take on the boys on August 2 in the Haskell at Monmouth Park.

As for the Breeder's Cup, Woolley is not sure how he will train Mine That Bird for the prestigious mile and a quarter contest to be run November 7 on the synthetic ProRide at Santa Anita. He is not worried about how the colt adapts to the surface since he has had experience running on synthetic surfaces. In fact, Mine That Bird won four in a row on Woodbine's synthetic surface last year.

So for now, it is one day at a time. Mine that Bird will remain at Churchill Downs, site of his greatest win, to train for the West Virginia Derby. Who knows? By then, Woolley may get his cast off!