LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It is perhaps the most compelling storyline of the 138th Preakness Stakes, this inextricable entanglement of Orb, Departing, and their respective connections.
The horses spent their early days together in the same paddock at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky., and after going their separate ways for a time, they will reunite May 18 for a date with racing destiny in the Preakness at Pimlico in Baltimore.
As of Tuesday, the prospective Preakness field was holding steady at 12 3-year-olds following one addition and one subtraction.
Maryland Jockey Club officials reported early Tuesday that trainer D. Wayne Lukas will run Titletown Five in the Preakness, a fact later confirmed by David Miller, a co-owner of the colt. That gives Lukas a third Preakness runner, along with Oxbow and Will Take Charge.
Within minutes of the Titletown Five announcement, trainer Ken McPeek said via Twitter that he was withdrawing Bellarmine from consideration for the Preakness.
Orb vanquished 18 horses in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on Saturday, and as of Monday it looked like as many as seven of them would try again, and four newcomers were set to join the party, when the Triple Crown trail shifts to Pimlico for the Preakness Stakes on May 18.
ELMONT, N.Y. – After initially saying he didn’t plan to run Kentucky Derby fourth-place finisher Normandy Invasion back in the Preakness, trainer Chad Brown on Monday reserved the right to change his mind.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Orb, the Kentucky Derby winner, came out of the race in good condition, trainer Shug McGaughey said Sunday morning at Churchill Downs, and he will continue his bid to be the first Triple Crown winner in 35 years when he makes his next start in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 18.
“I can’t wait to get there,” McGaughey said at Barn 43.
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Departing has both the points and the credentials to have run in this year’s Kentucky Derby. But trainer Al Stall Jr. is in no rush to put his improving 3-year-old on the Triple Crown trail just yet.
Departing has captured 4 of his 5 starts, his lone setback coming at the hands of Revolutionary when third in the Grade 2 Risen Star. He is coming off an impressive 3 1/4-length triumph for Stall and owner-breeders Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider in the Grade 3 Illinois Derby.
Lightly raced 3-year-old colt Abstraction made the leap from maiden to stakes company and easily handled the assignment as a convincing winner in Saturday’s $75,000 Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico.
Abstraction isn’t nominated to the Triple Crown series, so it’s unlikely he will return to Pimlico for the Preakness in three weeks. But he could become a factor within the division later this season.
There are several intriguing 3-year-olds in the lineup for Saturday’s $75,000 Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico, a two-turn race that occasionally has served as a springboard to the Preakness and two years ago produced Ruler On Ice, winner of the Belmont Stakes.
STICKNEY, Ill. – Departing was back in his stall on the Churchill Downs backstretch Monday morning after sharply winning the Grade 3, $750,000 Illinois Derby on Saturday at Hawthorne, and that is exactly where Departing will remain during the running of the Kentucky Derby on May 4.
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Sr. Quisqueyano rode a speed-favoring track to a convincing 7 1/2- length victory over the 4-5 favorite Speak Logistics in Saturday’s $250,000 Calder Derby. Reporting Star finished a distant third.
