Pimlico: Zee Bros burns up track in Chick Lang score

BALTIMORE - It had been mentioned to trainer Bob Baffert early on Saturday that speed wasn’t very good at Pimlico.
“Hey, wait til Zee Bros gets on it,” Baffert responded.

Zee Bros, with Martin Garcia up, made a slow track look quick as he blitzed his eight rivals with a front-running 2 1/4-length victory in the $100,000 Chick Lang Stakes for 3-year-old sprinters.

[PREAKNESS STAKES: Race replays and reactions from Pimlico]

Breaking from post 2, Zee Bros made the front through a quarter in 22.65 seconds and kept going through a half-mile in 45.16. He covered the six furlongs in 1:10.72 and returned $7.40 as the favorite.

Bobcat Jim, who chased the pace from the outset, held second by a neck over Brave Dave.

Zee Bros, a son of Brother Derek owned by Zayat Stables, won for the second time in four career starts and bounced back from a sixth-place finish in the Grade 3 Derby Trial last month at one mile at Churchill Downs.

"This horse, we’ve been really high on him,” Baffert said. “In the Derby Trial he went real fast, the track was off, it was tiring. He got a lot out of it. We expected him to run a big race today.”

Baffert said he didn’t like post 2, and even owner Ahmed Zayat suggested that perhaps the horse scratch and wait for another spot. But Baffert said, “When they’re doing awesome you have to run them.”

Garcia said that in the Derby Trial Zee Bros never had a chance to relax. Saturday, he did.

“My horse was just really fast," he said. "Then what I did was try to keep it together, be comfortable, and then when I decided to go just let him go.”