Photo by Reed Palmer/Churchill Downs

Unless appearances are deceiving, Flat Out showed his readiness for next Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic by working a bullet half-mile in a bullet :46.60  on Sunday morning with Greta Kuntzweiler aboard.

Fractions for the work were :12.20, :23.80, :35.20 and out five furlongs in :58.80 and six furlongs in 1:12.40.

“I’m flat-out pleased,” trainer Scooter Dickey said with a laugh. “I told Greta to let him do what he wants to do, then cluck to him at the eighth pole and have him gallop out strong. We’re ready.”

Dickey said Alex Solis is slated to stay aboard Flat Out. Solis has ridden Flat Out in his past four starts, resulting in victories in the Grade II Suburban and Grade I Jockey Club Gold Cup and runner-up finishes in the Grade I  Whitney Invitational Handicap and Grade I Woodward.

Sunday’s work was the second bullet move at Churchill Downs for Flat Out since winning the Jockey Club Gold Cup at the Breeders’ Cup Classic distance of 1 1/4 mile. But Flat Out has finished only sixth in two races at Churchill.

“He had a bad trip the first time he ran here when he was a 2-year-old,” Dickey said. “In the Stephen Foster (this past Summer), that was not a bad race. He was trapped down on the inside and couldn’t get out. All the others came down the middle of the track. He made a good move, but the rail was dead that day.”

--Edited Churchill Downs release with additional content by Dick Downey