California Chrome rider Espinoza thinks track will be fast for Preakness
BALTIMORE – Though rain was falling hard Friday morning at Pimlico, Victor Espinoza, jockey of Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome, said he believes the main track will be fast for Saturday’s $1.5 million Preakness Stakes.
“Today, it’s going to rain. Tomorrow, it’s going to stop. The track should be okay,” Espinoza said. “You know what is crazy about this track? If it rains today, tomorrow, it’s fine. It dries out so quickly. It’ll be fast. That’s why I don’t worry about it.”
Heavy rains fell here starting late Thursday night and early Friday morning during training hours. It was expected to stop raining by early to mid-afternoon Friday. However, all 13 of Friday’s races were to be run over a sealed sloppy track, as the card’s six turf races were moved to the main track.
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On Friday, California Chrome did train in the mud at Pimlico, galloping about two miles.
Espinoza said he is more concerned about the gate. California Chrome has had a few issues in the gate in prior races, though he broke sharply and cleanly in the Kentucky Derby, a race in which he stalked the pace from third.
“I always do,” Espinoza said when asked if he worries about the gate. “Every race that I ride him – and not just him. For some reason, they’re all nice until you go to the gate. It comes to the big races. The nicest ones always have a problem. I think it’s the pressure. Everybody’s too tense, and the horses sense it, so that’s the problem.”
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Another concern Espinoza has is the two-week turnaround. California Chrome has never raced on such short rest.
“That is my biggest thing. Even though he won easy, he still ran,” Espinoza said. “They lose a lot of energy in two weeks.”
Espinoza said if Social Inclusion goes to the lead in the Preakness and he has a target to run at, that is “even better for me.”
Entering Friday, when he was scheduled to ride La Mejor Fiesta in the $500,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, Espinoza had only one mount in the last decade at Pimlico. He finished eighth aboard Mr. Commons in the 2011 Preakness. Espinoza is 2 for 17 in his career at Pimlico, winning the 2002 Preakness on War Emblem and the 2004 Pimlico Special on Southern Image.