Good news: Black Tie Optional’s nuclear scan came back clean. He’s jogging sound currently on the shank, so Team Baffert plans to give him a few more days and then start him back under tack. We’ll see how he responds and looks at that point, but hopefully this minor blip is behind us.
Black Tie Optional had an improved breeze this morning at Los Alamitos, covering four furlongs in :49.60 while on the outside of his usual mate Cherokee Nation. In the previous two weeks, Cherokee Nation was out working him slightly to the wire, but today your son of Not This Time was clearly best. This was another nice step forward for Black Tie Optional and we would expect him to likely have one additional half-mile breeze before moving on to 5/8, but we will leave that decision up to assistant trainer Mike Marlow.
Please note, for the next few weeks the consistency of our work videos may drop as the majority of horsemen and horsewomen, including our MRH staff, are heading south to Del Mar for the summer. We will still do our best to keep weekly content.
Black Tie Optional breezed three furlongs in :36.60 while on the outside of an unnamed Candy Ride filly out of Savingtime. Your son of Not This Time took a step forward this morning, clearly having the upper hand in this breeze. We will see how your colt continues to handle the next steps, but it sure seems we are moving in the right direction.
Black Tie Optional breezed inside of fellow MyRacehorse juvenile colt Native Brew yesterday morning at Wavertree Stables—check out the accompanying video. Both colts looked good and showed some nice determination down the lane.
The newly named Black Tie Optional continues to do well down at Wavertree Stables where he received a brief break from training over the holidays. He will resume galloping this week with the goal of beginning to breeze towards the end of January.
We are excited to announce the official winner of the Stylishly ’23 naming contest!
This was the closest contest we’ve had to date, however, the winning name is Black Tie Optional!
Thank you to all who submitted names and voted during our naming contest!