Danzig Moon confirmed for Preakness

Danzig Moon, fifth in the Kentucky Derby, will come back in the Preakness Stakes, meaning four of the first five finishers from the Derby are bound for the second leg of the Triple Crown at Pimlico on May 16.

Danzig Moon joins the first three Derby finishers – American Pharoah, Firing Line, and Dortmund – as Preakness runners. The sixth-place finisher from the Derby, Materiality, is still under consideration for the race, too.

Trainer Mark Casse said Danzig Moon is “doing even better” coming out of the Derby than he was leading up to the race. Danzig Moon impressed with his training the week of the Derby after finishing second in the Blue Grass Stakes.

“He was training well coming into the Blue Grass, out of that he trained even better coming into the Derby, and we think he’s doing even better now,” Casse said Saturday from Ocala, Fla.

Casse said his son and assistant, Norman, “was just amazed” at how well Danzig Moon bounced back from the Derby, especially considering how he was knocked around between rivals for much of the opening quarter-mile.

“He’s not a big horse, but he’s a tough son of a gun,” Casse said.

Danzig Moon, currently at Churchill Downs, will fly to Baltimore on Wednesday, the same day American Pharoah, Firing Line, and Dortmund are scheduled to travel.

Julien Leparoux, who was on Danzig Moon in the Derby, will ride him back in the Preakness, Casse said. Leparoux rode Divining Rod to victory last time out in the Lexington Stakes, so his decision to stick with Danzig Moon opened a spot on Divining Rod. As of late Saturday morning, trainer Arnaud Delacour said no decision had been made on who will ride Divining Rod.

Earlier Saturday morning at the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland, Divining Rod completed his serious training for the Preakness with a half-mile workout in 51.60 seconds that “was just maintenance,” Delacour said.

“I am very satisfied with how he is doing,” Delacour said.

Divining Rod is scheduled to be sent by van from Fair Hill to Pimlico on Thursday.

At Churchill Downs, Kentucky Derby winner American Pharoah and his Bob Baffert-trained stablemate Dortmund were among the first on the track following the regular 8:30 a.m. harrow break, and they went through their rounds with no frills or delays.

American Pharoah, with exercise rider Jorge Alvarez up, jogged over to the finish wire and stood there no longer than 30 seconds before turning around and starting his gallop. He went around deliberately and at a normal pace while audibly snorting as he came down the stretch for the only time. Alvarez kept him at the same clip over to the six-furlong pole, where he began easing him up, finally pulling up around the five-furlong pole. They turned right around and walked off the 5 1/2-furlong gap back toward their Barn 33 headquarters. It was all over in a little more than five minutes.

It was the same – minus the snorting – for Dortmund and exercise rider Dana Barnes, who trailed American Pharoah by only a minute or so in doing all the same things in galloping 1 1/4 miles.

Baffert was scheduled to arrive in Louisville on Sunday and supervise training Monday and Tuesday prior to those horses flying to Baltimore on Wednesday.

At Belmont Park, Materiality looked nice and relaxed and was moving extremely well in a gallop over the training track. He was reaching out nicely and wasn’t easy to pull up. Both he and Carpe Diem, 10th in the Derby, are under consideration for the Preakness for trainer Todd Pletcher.

Carpe Diem showed good energy, though he got a little hot in a 1 3/8-mile gallop early Saturday morning over Belmont’s main track. Getting hot is typical for Carpe Diem.

On a cloudy, cool, though somewhat humid morning, Carpe Diem jogged back to the seven-eighths pole alongside a stable pony, then stood for a while before breaking off. During his gallop, he was kept closer to the outside rail than the inside, as was the case at Churchill Downs. He swapped leads back and forth a couple of times through the stretch, but he seemed to do more than he did on most mornings at Churchill before the Derby.

– additional reporting by Jim Dunleavy, David Grening, and Marty McGee