Kentucky Derby runner-up returns to training

By: SPORTS NETWORK

New Orleans. LA (SportsNetwork.com) - Kentucky Derby runner-up Commanding Curve, trained by Dallas Stewart, has returned to training after a five month break.

"He looks great," Stewart said from Fair Grounds. "He got here two or three weeks ago and was just shedrowing and tack-walking. I just recently started him back jogging. He'll do that for 10 days or two weeks before he starts galloping again."

Owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, Commanding Curve last broke from a starting gate in the Travers at Saratoga on Aug. 23. He finished ninth behind V. E. Day in the Mid-Summer Derby and was then given time off at WinStar Farm in Kentucky.

"There are no plans as far as racing yet. At this point he looks strong and healthy," Stewart said.

As a 3-year-old in 2014, Commanding Curve was sixth in Fair Grounds' Risen Star Stakes and third in the Louisiana Derby. He was 1 3/4 lengths behind California Chrome as a 37-1 longshot in the Run for the Roses followed by a ninth in the Belmont Stakes and fourth in the Jim Dandy.

Commanding Curve has earned $572,434 with one win, two seconds and two thirds from 10 starts.