Brown taking time with Praetor, pointing to Lexington

Trainer Chad Brown believes Praetor could have a big 3-year-old season, he just doesn’t see the Kentucky Derby as part of it.

Praetor, who came off a lengthy layoff to win a first-level allowance at Gulfstream Park on March 9, will make his next start in the Grade 3, $400,000 Lexington Stakes at Keeeneland on April 12 with the potential of using that race as a stepping-stone to the Preakness on May 17.

Praetor, a son of Into Mischief, has yet to run in a stakes and Brown didn’t think it wise throwing him into a major Kentucky Derby points-scoring race this weekend. The Lexington does offer Derby points, but even a win in that race would not give Praetor enough points to get into the Derby field.

Brown, who has won the Preakness in recent years with the lightly raced runners Early Voting and Cloud Computing, likes the idea of giving Praetor extra time from his allowance win to his next start.

“He’s a really, really nice horse,” Brown said. “This Kentucky Derby field, if everybody stays healthy, is shaping up to be a very, very deep field, I think. There are a lot of talented horses in there. I’m not convinced I have enough seasoning underneath that horse to go in and out of that race the right way. I do think he has a big career ahead of him.”

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At 2, Praetor ran twice, finishing third behind Ferocious in a maiden race at Saratoga before winning a one-mile maiden at Aqueduct, beating Sovereignty, who came back to win the Street Sense at Churchill Downs and the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream before finishing second in last week’s Florida Derby.

Meanwhile, Brown said Garamond, third in the Grade 3 Gotham at Aqueduct on March 1, developed a foot bruise shortly after that race which forced him to miss this Saturday’s Grade 2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. Brown said he would look for an allowance or potentially the Peter Pan Stakes at Aqueduct on May 10 for Garamond’s next start.

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