Preakness Outlook
By Jay Privman
Might be full field at Pimlico
Led by Super Saver, winner of the 136th Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs, a full field of 14 is possible for the 135th Preakness Stakes on May 15 at Pimlico, including the first three finishers from the Derby.
[Super Saver who got a Beyer Speed Figure of 104 - gave trainer Todd Pletcher his first win in the Derby, and he will be attempting to give Pletcher his first Preakness win, too. But whereas Pletcher was 0 for 24 in nine prior Derbies, he has had far fewer starters in the Preakness, just four in three runnings over the past decade. His best finish was a third with Impeachment, his first Preakness runner, in 2000.
Super Saver's jockey, Calvin Borel - who won the Derby for the third time in four years - said after the Derby that he thought Super Saver could win the Triple Crown, a feat that has not been accomplished since Affirmed in 1978.
"I'm going all the way this year," Borel said.
"Calvin already said he's going to win the Triple Crown, so I guess we better go there," Pletcher said of the Preakness.
He should have plenty of company in the second leg of the Triple Crown.
Ice Box, who was second in the Derby, and Paddy O'Prado, who was third, also are being considered for the 1 3/16-mile race. Others exiting the Derby who could be seen again in Baltimore are Noble's Promise, who finished fifth; Derby favorite Lookin At Lucky, who finished sixth after a dreadful trip; Dublin, who was seventh; Jackson Bend, who was 12th; and Conveyance, who wound up 15th after setting a hot early pace.
Ice Box and Jackson Bend are both owned by Robert LaPenta and trained by Nick Zito.
"If [Zito] tells me [Ice Box] is on his toes and eating like a maniac, I might be up for it," LaPenta said Monday.
Bob Baffert could have two starters, if both Lookin At Lucky and Conveyance go.
Pletcher also is expected to have a second runner in the race in Aikenite, who was second in the Derby Trial but bypassed the Derby.
In addition to Aikenite, there are several newcomers to the Triple Crown trail expected for the Preakness.
Hurricane Ike, the Derby Trial winner, is possible for the race, said trainer John Sadler, who said his status would be determined after a workout that was scheduled for Tuesday morning at Churchill Downs.
Sadler said his Derby runners - Sidney's Candy, who finished 17th, and Line of David, who was 18th - are both returning to California and will "be given a breather."
Pleasant Prince, third in the Derby Trial, also is expected to run in the Preakness. He was entered in the Derby, but was one of two excluded from the field because of insufficient earnings in graded stakes races.
Other new shooters include Caracortado, a troubled fourth in the Santa Anita Derby; Schoolyard Dreams, most recently fourth in the Wood Memorial; and Turf Melody, who was fourth in the Illinois Derby.
A Little Warm, who was a possible Preakness runner, has been fighting a temperature since shipping last week from Florida to Delaware Park and is not currently under consideration for the race, trainer Tony Dutrow said Monday.
The Preakness field is limited to 14 runners. Right now, no more than that are expected. However, should more than 14 enter next Wednesday, May 12, a three-tiered process will determine the final field.
According to the race conditions for the Preakness, the first seven of the 14 runners are determined by earnings in graded stakes races, which is the sole criteria used by Churchill Downs if the Derby is oversubscribed. After those initial seven, the next four Preakness horses would get in based on earnings in all nonrestricted stakes, which would include stakes that are ungraded. The final three spots would be determined by lifetime earnings in all races.
Super Saver will remain at Churchill Downs until May 12, when he will fly to Baltimore, Pletcher said.
"He likes this surface," Pletcher said of Churchill Downs, where Super Saver is 2 for 2.
Pletcher had a tumultuous week, which began with the withdrawal of the expected Derby favorite, Eskendereya. But throughout the week he remained outwardly calm, with his usual self-assured maturity, and that rubbed off on his staff.
"He kept it light, kept it loose," said Michael McCarthy, Pletcher's top assistant at Churchill Downs, who has worked for Pletcher for nearly eight years. "We had bad news early in the week, but other than that, we had a great week. Great leaders like him, everyone rallies around."
McCarthy watched the Derby adjacent to the outer rail, near the finish line. He leaped onto the track as soon as Super Saver hit the finish, and had he been more exuberant or careless, he might have been run over by some of the stragglers in a strung-out Derby field.
"It was an unreal feeling," McCarthy said.
Pletcher took the win in stride.
"I almost was more emotional when Rags to Riches won the Belmont," Pletcher said of his only prior win in a Triple Crown race, in 2007. "To everyone else, this was like getting the monkey off my back. But it didn't feel that way to me."
Pletcher said win or lose, he was not going to be any better as a trainer the day after the Derby. Statistically speaking, though, that one win was huge. Now, he's no longer 0 for 24 in the Derby.
"We've got to put a new twist on that," Pletcher said. "Ten Derbies, with one win and two seconds."
In Borel, Pletcher is employing the hottest Triple Crown rider in the game right now. Borel won last year's Preakness with Rachel Alexandra, so he has won three of the last four Triple Crown races.
"I can figure out Pimlico," Borel said. "I figured it out all right last year."
The following a list of possible starters for the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 15:
Horse (Trainer)
Aikenite (Todd Pletcher)
A Little Warm (Tony Dutrow)
Bushwhacked (Jonathan Sheppard)
Caracortado (Mike Machowsky)
Dublin (D. Wayne Lukas)
Hurricane Ike (John Sadler)
Ice Box (Nick Zito)
Jackson Bend (Nick Zito)
Lookin At Lucky (Bob Baffert)
Paddy O Prado (Dale Romans)
Pleasant Prince (Wesley Ward)
Schoolyard Dreams (Derek Ryan)
Super Saver (Todd Pletcher)
Turf Melody (Graham Motion)
Looks like 13 in Preakness
By DRF.com
Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to Pimlico we go for the second leg of the Triple Crown, the 135th Preakness Stakes, in which Super Saver, the Kentucky Derby winner, will face another large field, though the complexion of the race has changed dramatically from the lineup at Churchill Downs, both in terms of horses and the likely pace.
The Preakness is limited to 14 runners, and as of Monday, it appeared a baker's dozen of 13 was going to pass the entry box on Wednesday, when post positions will be drawn for the $1 million race. Of the 20 horses who ran in the 1 1/4-mile Derby, only five, including Super Saver, are returning for the 1 3/16-mile Preakness, so the remainder of the field is made up of eight horses who skipped or could not get into the Derby.
And though the Derby's pace played out as it looked on paper - white-hot - the Preakness is coming up with apparently less early speed, a scenario made even more acute by the withdrawal of A Little Warm on Monday.
Super Saver has remained at Churchill Downs following the Derby. On Monday, he had a little tune-up for the Preakness, an easy three-furlong drill in 36.60 seconds under jockey Calvin Borel on a fast main track. According to track clockers, Super Saver galloped out a half-mile in 49.20 seconds, and five furlongs in 1:02. The time equaled the fifth-best of 29 at the distance.
"Calvin did exactly what we asked him to do," said trainer Todd Pletcher, who watched from the frontside. "Go an easy three-eighths and gallop out an easy half. It's amazing how effortless the horse was in doing it.
"We are very, very encouraged by his energy level, the way he is eating, the way he is moving. We are very happy with what we see."
This will be the first - and likely only - time in Super Saver's career that he will have races a mere two weeks apart. Pletcher said he worked Super Saver because "he's doing so well, we wanted to give him a chance to stretch his legs a little bit."
There are four other horses who chased Super Saver in the Derby and are scheduled to be back for a rematch in the Preakness - Paddy O'Prado (third in the Derby), Lookin At Lucky (sixth), Dublin (seventh), and Jackson Bend (12th). Jackson Bend, working with stablemate Latigo Shore, flew through four furlongs in 46.60 seconds at Churchill Downs on Monday with exercise rider Stacy Prior. Their time was the best of 69 at the distance.
"Fred Brei, who co-owns Jackson Bend, kept telling me how tough this little guy is, and he was right," Nick Zito, the trainer of Jackson Bend, said by phone from Kentucky. "This morning was a good indication of how tough this guy is. I wanted to see where we were at. If we have a good week, I hope he can rebound."
Lookin At Lucky did not work - and will not between these two races, according to trainer Bob Baffert - but his former rider, Garrett Gomez, was aboard Dublin for a half-mile drill in 48.40 seconds.
D. Wayne Lukas, the trainer of Dublin, also worked Northern Giant three furlongs in 36.40 seconds with exercise rider Arielle Witkowski.
Northern Giant is one of eight horses joining the Triple Crown trail after skipping the Derby. The others are Aikenite, Caracortado, First Dude, Hurricane Ike, Pleasant Prince, Schoolyard Dreams, and Yawanna Twist.
Hurricane Ike worked seven furlongs in 1:25.80 on Monday at Churchill with jockey Robby Albarado, who has the Preakness mount. Calvin Borel rode Hurricane Ike to a victory in the Derby Trial, but then won the Derby a week later with Super Saver, his Preakness mount. Hurricane Ike has tried two turns just once. He was 11th of 14 in the Breeders' Futurity on Polytrack last fall at Keeneland.
"Calvin told me after the Derby Trial that he thought he'd run on," said John Sadler, the trainer of Hurricane Ike.
Also at Churchill Downs, Yawanna Twist worked five furlongs in 1:01.80 with exercise rider Michelle Nevin for trainer Rick Dutrow.
Lukas's duo was scheduled to travel by van to Pimlico on Tuesday, but the remainder of the Churchill Downs-based Preakness runners are scheduled to fly to Maryland on Wednesday. That flight is originating early that morning in California, where Caracortado is based, and is stopping in Kentucky.
A Little Warm worked five furlongs on Monday at Delaware Park in 1:01.16, according to Daily Racing Form, but bled in the work and was removed from the Preakness. A Little Warm, trained by Tony Dutrow, has not raced since finishing second in the Louisiana Derby seven weeks ago.
"Tony scoped the horse and he bled a 2 out of 5," said Chris Baker, the racing and farm manager for owner Ed Evans. "The horse had no history of bleeding prior to that. Even though all other indicators showed the horse was recovering and seemed to be ready to compete at Pimlico, this showed us he wasn't as well recovered as he would need to be so we've withdrawn him from consideration."
The work was the first for A Little Warm since April 25, when he breezed four furlongs in 48.40 seconds at the Palm Meadows training center in Florida. After A Little Warm didn't get into the Derby field because of a lack of graded stakes earnings, he was vanned from Florida to Dutrow's stable at Delaware Park. After training his first day at Delaware, A Little Warm came down with a temperature that kept him off the track for several days.
A Little Warm could have been a key player in the race. With Conveyance and Sidney's Candy, the two speedsters from the Derby, off the Triple Crown trail, A Little Warm was a strong candidate to be the Preakness pacesetter.
Conveyance was ridden in the Derby by Martin Garcia, who is expected to ride Lookin At Lucky in the Preakness, replacing Gomez.
The weather this week at Pimlico is forecast to be quite varied. There was a 60-percent chance of rain on Tuesday, with a high of just 60 degrees, but that was to be followed by 81-degree days Wednesday and Friday, with isolated thunderstorms possible both days. The forecast for Saturday is for a high temperature of 78 degrees, and just a 10-percent chance of rain.