Shackleford's Preakness victory after appearing washed out before the race confounded conventional wisdom, but his owners and earliest teachers testify that it was right in character for the colt.
On top of the racing world after Shackleford's Preakness win, trainer Dale Romans has a good thing going with his life companion, Tammy Fox, who is the proverbial good woman behind the good man.
While trainer Graham Motion said Thursday from his Fair Hill Training Center base in northeastern Maryland that he would like to run Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom back in the Belmont Stakes, neither he nor Dale Romans, trainer of Preakness winner Shackleford, is ready to commit to the third leg of the Triple Crown on June 11 at Belmont Park in New York.
While the upset victory by Shackleford in the 136th Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico denied Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom a chance to shoot for the Triple Crown, there is a good chance that the final leg of the Triple Crown, the June 11 Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park, will feature a showdown between the Derby and Preakness winners, a matchup that has not taken place in the Belmont since 2005.
Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom came out of his second-place finish in Saturday's Preakness at Pimlico tired, but otherwise in good shape and will be under strong consideration to run back in the Belmont Stakes on June 11, trainer Graham Motion said Sunday.
Shackleford, who won the 136th Preakness Stakes on Saturday, came out of the race well, and his chances of running in the Belmont Stakes on June 11 are “better than 50-50,” his trainer, Dale Romans, said Sunday morning here at Pimlico.
Alternation, the determined head winner of Saturday’s Grade 2 Peter Pan Stakes, was expected to arrive in Chicago on Wednesday morning, and his connections will wait for at least a week before they decide whether to ship the horse back to New York for the $1 million Belmont Stakes on June 11.
Awesome Patriot ran the best race of his career in Sunday’s $72,960 Alydar Stakes at Hollywood Park, a performance likely to lead to a graded stakes in coming weeks.
Trainer takes blame for Uptowncharlybrown DQ
