from Thoroughbred Times:

Calvin Borel will again be aboard Mine That Bird for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) winner’s scheduled starts in the Goodwood Stakes (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) this fall at Santa Anita Park.

“We had been in contact with him all along,” trainer Bennie “Chip” Woolley Jr. said Monday after Mine That Bird breezed four furlongs in :51.16 on the main track at Saratoga Race Course. “He knows the horse.”

Borel has had an on again-off again relationship with the Birdstone gelding since picking up the mount Derby week and guiding Mine That Bird to an upset victory on May 2 (video). Borel decided to ride Rachel Alexandra in the BlackBerry Preakness Stakes (G1) (video) but returned aboard Mine That Bird for the Belmont Stakes (G1) (video) when Rachel Alexandra was not entered in that race.

Questions regarding Borel’s availability to ride the Kentucky Derby winner in the Shadwell Travers Stakes (G1) led the gelding’s connections to seek a multiple-race commitment from a jockey, and an agreement was reached with Mike Smith. The Racing Hall of Fame rider was aboard for Mine That Bird’s second-place Preakness finish and agreed to ride him in the West Virginia Derby (G2) and Travers. Mine That Bird finished third at Mountaineer Race Track (video) and missed the Travers because of minor surgery to repair an entrapped epiglottis.

Smith could not commit to riding Mine That Bird beyond the Travers because he is the regular rider of undefeated champion Zenyatta. Racing fans have been clamoring for a showdown between Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra, though Borel’s willingness to ride Mine That Bird in the Breeders’ Cup indicates that Jess Jackson intends to keep his word that his Medaglia d’Oro filly will not compete in the World Championships.

Mine That Bird will fly to New Mexico on Tuesday via FedEx. Woolley said the gelding will breeze a couple times at Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico, where he also will parade in front of fans at the All-American Futurity.

Mine That Bird, last year’s champion two-year-old male in Canada after a trio of stakes wins at Woodbine, competed in the Bessemer Trust Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) at Santa Anita in his first start for new owners Leonard Blach, D.V.M., and Mark Allen and finished last of 12 after racing wide.

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