Preakness 2012: I'll Have Another stretches his legs Monday at Pimlico

BALTIMORE – Kentucky Derby winner I’ll Have Another went through another strong gallop Monday morning at Pimlico, where trainer Doug O’Neill chose to send the colt to the track earlier than usual to dodge expected rain later in the morning.

With the track still fast, and with exercise rider Jonny Garcia up, I’ll Have Another was accompanied to the five-furlong pole by his multi-millionaire pony Lava Man before breaking off into a very lively gallop of three-quarters of a mile. Pimlico clocker Mark Euga caught the colt in 26.60 seconds from the quarter pole to the wire.

I’ll Have Another runs Saturday in the 137th Preakness at Pimlico.

“He’s showing great energy,” O’Neill said later. “That’s pretty much what we do with him all the time. We let him put his feet where he wants to put them. It’s what we’ll do with him the rest of the week, more or less. We had success with him doing it like that this winter in California, we had success with it in Kentucky, and hopefully we’ll have success with it here.”[bc_video_id:251774:]

I’ll Have Another has been going out to train at about 8:30 a.m. since arriving here shortly after his 1 1/2-length win in the May 5 Derby, but Monday he went a little before 7.

“I didn’t want to take any chances,” said O’Neill. “It’s no big deal. The first couple of days we got here, the track was sealed, and he galloped over it fine.”

The rest of Monday and into Tuesday was supposed to bring more rain, but the forecast for the rest of the week in the Baltimore area looks very promising. High temperatures for Friday and Saturday are supposed to near 80, and there is very little chance of rain.