Preakness: Justify to face seven in mudfest
BALTIMORE – If you liked the weather for the Kentucky Derby, you’ll love it for the Preakness. The forecast for the rest of the week here at Pimlico, according to The Weather Channel, is for daily rain or showers, the chances ranging from a low of 90 percent on Thursday and Saturday to 100 percent on Friday. It’s a mud, mud, mud, mud world.
The weather was a consideration for those already here Wednesday, hours before posts were to be drawn for the Preakness on Saturday. Of the eight horses entered in the second leg of the Triple Crown, trainer D. Wayne Lukas has two of them, including Bravazo, who braved an off track in the Derby when finishing sixth behind Justify.
“He handles it really well,” Lukas said as he sat in a chair under cover at the western end of the stakes barn as light rain fell Wednesday morning. “He rolls right through it. We’ll keep it interesting, but we’re realistic. We’re facing a good horse. It might be Justify and all the rest.”
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Justify, the unbeaten winner of the Derby, will be an odds-on favorite on the lines of Mike Watchmaker, Daily Racing Form’s national handicapper, and Keith Feustle, who sets the line at Pimlico. Posts for the race were drawn late Wednesday, after this edition was published. Justify has won all four of his starts, and only three horses – Bravazo, Good Magic, and Lone Sailor – of the 19 who chased him home in the Derby two weeks ago are back to try again.
For all those horses, it likely will be the only time in their lives they have just 14 days between starts.
“You’ve got to have a tough one,” Lukas said. “If you don’t, it won’t work.”
The other four entrants – Diamond King, Quip, Sporting Chance, and Tenfold – are newcomers to the Triple Crown.
If all eight start, that will equal the smallest Preakness field since 2000. The last time there were fewer than eight runners was 1986, when seven ran.
Quip is owned by WinStar Farm and China Horse Club, who are among the owners of Justify. Sporting Chance is Lukas’s other runner, though there is no overlapping ownership of those colts.
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Justify remained at Churchill Downs following the Derby and flew here Wednesday along with Lone Sailor and Quip. Diamond King, stabled at Parx Racing, also was scheduled to arrive Wednesday after a short van ride.
Those who arrived earlier this week trained on a muddy track Wednesday. Lukas sent both Bravazo and Sporting Chance out for jogs early in the morning, while a bit later Good Magic had a controlled gallop of about 1 1/2 miles, with exercise rider Walter Malasquez appearing to keep him from rolling along owing to the surface.
Tenfold also went later when testing the track for the first time, but Scott Blasi, the top assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen, said he’d go earlier in subsequent mornings because the persistent rain impacted the track as the morning progressed.
PROSPECTIVE PREAKNESS FIELD
| HORSE | TRAINER | JOCKEY | LAST RACE |
| Bravazo | D. Wayne Lukas | Luis Saez | 6th, Kentucky Derby (CD) |
| Diamond King | John Servis | Javier Castellano | 1st, Tesio Stakes (LRL) |
| Good Magic | Chad Brown | Jose Ortiz | 2nd, Kentucky Derby (CD) |
| Justify | Bob Baffert | Mike Smith | 1st, Kentucky Derby (CD) |
| Lone Sailor | Tom Amoss | Irad Ortiz, Jr. | 8th, Kentucky Derby (CD) |
| Quip | Rodolphe Brisset | Florent Geroux | 2nd, Arkansas Derby (OP) |
| Sporting Chance | D. Wayne Lukas | Luis Contreras | 4th, Pat Day Mile (CD) |
| Tenfold | Steve Asmussen | Ricardo Santana, Jr. | 5th, Arkansas Derby (OP) |
