Blue Grass Runner-Up Just a Touch 'Training Exceptionally Well' Ahead of Return
02/21/2025 01:26 PM
Just a Touch (Justify), a fantastic second behind subsequent GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) in last spring's GI Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, is nearing a return to action.
Last seen coming up just a head short for Qatar Racing, Resolute Racing and Marc Detampel in the Iowa Derby July 6, the 4-year-old has posted seven workouts at Brad Cox's Payson Park base this year, most recently breezing five furlongs in 1:01.80 (3/13) Feb. 15.
“He's doing great,” said Hunter Valley Farm's Fergus Galvin, who serves as an U.S. advisor to Qatar Racing's Sheikh Fahad.
“We gave him a nice bit of time off last year after the Iowa Derby. He had a lot thrown at him in the spring, tough for a young horse. We turned him out here at the farm for three months. He did a couple of months at WinStar to leg him back up, then he went down to Payson. Brad has been delighted with him, training great. He's very bullish about him for this year.”
A very sharp debut winner sprinting in the slop at Fair Grounds, Just a Touch was immediately thrown into the deep end and ran extremely well in defeat in his next two starts, earning a spot in the starting gate for the GI Kentucky Derby after finishing second in both the GIII Gotham Stakes and Blue Grass, respectively. He earned a career-best 96 Beyer Speed Figure in the latter.
Last of 20 at a well-backed 11-1 on the first Saturday in May, Just a Touch faced the starter just one more time in 2024, his aforementioned runner-up finish as the 3-5 favorite at Prairie Meadows.
Just a Touch could resurface in a first-level allowance in “about two or three weeks,” per Galvin.
“We'll start him off nice and easy, most likely in a 1x somewhere,” Galvin said. “Brad's gonna step him up, I would think, pretty quick after his first race. He's training exceptionally well and has always been a good training horse, that's why we put him on such a trail last year.”
Galvin added, “Fingers crossed, given his size and pedigree, we think he'll have a big year.”
After RNA'ing for $170,000 as a KEESEP yearling, the Don Alberto Corporation-bred Just a Touch brought $125,000 from Scanlon Training & Sales as a FTKOCT yearling, then $300,000 from Galvin after breezing in a bullet :9 4/5 as an OBSAPR 2-year-old. Just a Touch's dam Touching Beauty (Tapit), an $800,000 KEENOV purchase by Don Alberto in 2014, won the 2010 GIII Comely Stakes at Aqueduct. The Justify x Tapit cross has also produced Champions Dream, one of 18 graded/group winners worldwide for the 2018 Triple Crown winner.
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