Wheelaway looked impressive Wednesday during a Belmont workout.

On Wednesday, the steel gray colt gave an indication that he may just be ready to peak in the June 10 Belmont Stakes by working seven furlongs in 1:24 over Belmont's main track.

With exercise rider Amanda Roxborough up, Wheelaway broke from the 7½-furlong pole with his head down and actually worked part of his first furlong in that position. He soon picked his head up and after working an opening quarter in 24.60 seconds, Wheelaway put in a dazzling second quarter in 22.80 seconds and still finished his last three furlongs in 36.80. He galloped out a mile in 1:37.80 and was up the 1 1/8 miles in 1:54.

"I picked it up a little too early for him,"' Roxborough said. "He'll sit, and sit forever. We got the right time, we got there a little backwards and that's all me. But he stayed steady on to the end."

Watching from his father Caesar Kimmel's box in the Belmont grandstand, John Kimmel was pleased with the move over a fast track that was not yielding quick times on a cool, breezy morning.

"I couldn't ask for him to work any better than that," Kimmel said. "He's certainly not exhausted. Our fitness level is where it needs to be."

Wheelaway came into the Derby off just five starts, none as a 2-year-old. After winning a maiden race in his second start, Wheelaway finished second in an allowance race at Gulfstream before winning the Tampa Bay Derby.

After that victory, he was supplemented to the Triple Crown for $6,000. At the time, Caesar Kimmel, part-owner of Wheelaway, had the Belmont in mind.

"I would hope that a horse by Unbridled out of a Damascus mare would be well suited to run a mile and a half," John Kimmel said.

Wheelaway earned a spot in the Kentucky Derby by running a closing third in the Blue Grass over a speed-favoring Keeneland surface. In the Derby, Wheelaway made a huge five-wide move to hit the front in upper stretch. Approaching midstretch, Wheelaway came over on Captain Steve, causing that one to steady. Jockey Richard Migliore was trying to get Wheelaway alongside More Than Ready, who had slipped through on the rail.

"I thought Richie moved too early and too aggressively," Kimmel said. "If he sat and waited another eighth of a mile and been less aggressive with that kind of move he would have been third in there."

Kimmel elected to skip the Preakness with Wheelaway because it would have been too much on a horse who didn't make his first start until Jan. 3. "This horse has been playing catch-up all year long," said Kimmel, who plans to work the horse again on Tuesday.

By the looks of it Wednesday, Wheelaway has caught up.

- additional reporting by Jay Privman