By Dick Downey

Motor City worked five furlongs in 1:01.80 (3/23), breezing from the gate, today at Palm Meadows. He may start next in the Grade II Swale on Saturday. It would be his first start of the year.

Motor City (Worth Watching) is also nominated to Saturday's Grade III Tampa Bay Derby.

Trained by Ian Wilkes, Motor City would look to improve upon a quality graded win in 2011, the Grade III Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs on Oct. 30. Motor City finished third in the Grade III Arlington-Washington Futurity and eighth in the Grade I Breeders’ Futurity before he took the Iroquois under Calvin Borel.

Borel decided to start his Winter campaign at Gulfstream Park, in part because Motor City was going there, but he's since moved his tack to Oaklawn Park.

“We are considering the Swale, but first want to see how he comes out of today’s work,” said Wilkes today. “He is a confirmed closer, which wouldn’t really help him a lot at Gulfstream, but he’s got to get started at some point. We’ll continue discuss the options for him over the next couple of days.”

Motor City is a gelding by Street Sense. When Street Sense won the 2007 Kentucky Derby, Wilkes was trainer Carl Nafzger’s assistant.