Preakness 2021: Field of 10 now expected; Essential Quality won't run
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As of Tuesday morning, at least 10 3-year-olds are under consideration for the May 15 Preakness in Baltimore, with the victorious Medina Spirit among three Kentucky Derby starters whose connections are talking about wheeling back two weeks later in the second jewel of the Triple Crown at Pimlico Race Course.
Trainer Brad Cox told Steve Byk on his Sirius radio show that Essential Quality, fourth as the favorite in the Derby, would bypass the Preakness.
Trainer Kenny McPeek has taken King Fury out of consideration, according to report from journalist Jennie Rees. King Fury, the Lexington Stakes winner, was scratched from the Derby after spiking a temperature.
Medina Spirit and his Bob Baffert stablemate Concert Tour are foremost on a list of candidates being maintained by Pimlico officials for the 146th running of the $1 million Preakness, along with two colts trained by Cox - Mandaloun, the second-place finisher in the Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs and Caddo River, who was withdrawn from the Derby with a mild illness six days beforehand. Midnight Bourbon, the sixth-place Derby finisher, also is “possible,” David Fiske, racing manager for Winchell Thoroughbreds, said Monday via text message.
Hot Rod Charlie, beaten a length when third in the Derby, was scheduled to return Tuesday to California and will be pointed to the June 5 Belmont Stakes. Fifth-place finisher O Besos, based at Churchill, is unlikely to remain on the Triple Crown trail, according to his connections.
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Baffert flew home Sunday to California and is scheduled to return to Louisville this coming weekend while his stable is overseen at Churchill by longtime assistant Jimmy Barnes. Medina Spirit, owned by Zedan Racing Stables, gave Baffert a record-breaking seventh Derby victory when he held off Mandaloun by a half-length.
Baffert escaped a tie with Ben A. Jones for most Derby wins and now sets his sights on doing the same thing with R. Wyndham Walden, who won seven runnings of the Preakness from 1875 to 1888. Baffert also has seven Preakness wins and could have broken the tie last October, but Authentic was edged by the filly Swiss Skydiver in foiling the trainer’s bid for an eighth.
Besides Concert Tour and Caddo River, there are at least another five “new shooters” possible for the 1 3/16-mile Preakness: Crowded Trade, France Go de Ina, Ram, Rombauer, and Unbridled Honor. The Preakness field is limited to 14.
Rombauer, trained by Michael McCarthy, earned a free berth into the Preakness by winning the Feb. 13 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate, which, like Pimlico, is owned by The Stronach Group. Cox won another automatic qualifier toward the Preakness when Fulsome captured the Oaklawn Invitational on Saturday, but the colt is not nominated to the Triple Crown and there is no intention to do so, said Cox.
France Go de Ina, based in Japan with trainer Hideyuki Mori, was scheduled to arrive Wednesday in the U.S. after clearing quarantine in Japan, according to a Pimlico release. After clearing quarantine in Los Angeles, the Kentucky-bred colt by Will Take Charge is scheduled to be flown Friday to Baltimore. He would be a Preakness longshot, considering his only start this year resulted in a sixth-place finish in the March 27 UAE Derby.
Typically, horses are flown from Kentucky to Baltimore on the Wednesday before the Preakness. However, an issue with Tex Sutton, the widely used equine charter company, has surfaced, making flights unavailable beyond this coming Saturday. Trainers are now scrambling to find other travel arrangements for their horses, including through van lines such as Sallee and Brook Ledge.
The Preakness week trainer bonuses totaling $100,000 are in effect again, with trainers earning points according to how their horses finish in designated stakes races. Kentucky-based trainers won the $50,000 top prize the four previous years the bonuses were offered – Steve Asmussen in 2017-18, Cox in 2019, and Mike Maker in 2020.
Six stakes led by the Black-Eyed Susan and Pimlico Special will be run May 14, the day before the Preakness, while eight other stakes for Thoroughbreds are on the Preakness undercard. A Grade 1 stakes for Arabians also is on the Preakness undercard.
Unlike at the Derby, for which ontrack attendance was announced at 51,838, the Preakness crowd will be far more restricted. Pimlico announced in late March a limit of 10,000 because of the ongoing pandemic.
- additional reporting by Jay Privman