Dortmund to add shadow roll for Preakness

BALTIMORE – After training in a shadow roll on Friday morning, Dortmund will wear one in the Preakness, trainer Bob Baffert said Saturday.

A shadow roll goes over a horse's nose and is used to help a horse keep his head up, and – befitting its name – helps a horse who might hesitate when he sees shadows on the racetrack.

Dortmund wore blinkers and a shadow roll in his debut at Santa Anita. Both were removed for his next start at Churchill Downs and remained off through the Derby, in which Dortmund suffered the first loss of his career. Only the shadow roll is being added today. Stablemate American Pharoah regularly races in a shadow roll.

Unlike a change of blinkers or the addition of Lasix, the use – or removal – of a shadow roll is not something disclosed as an official change in the program. It falls into the same category as a change of bits, which, when made, is denoted by the paddock judge for record-keeping purposes but is not something that is publicly denoted.