Preakness Stakes: Romans taking a shot with longshot Everfast

BALTIMORE – A surprise 13th horse for the Preakness was revealed Wednesday morning at Pimlico when trainer Dale Romans entered Everfast in the second jewel of the Triple Crown.

Everfast, owned by Calumet Farm, surely will be one of the longest shots in the Preakness field after most recently finishing fifth by 10 1/4 lengths in the Pat Day Mile on Kentucky Derby Day. Joel Rosario will ride.

Easily the best result from 10 career starts for Everfast came when he rallied to finish second behind Harvey Wallbanger as a 128-1 shot in the Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park in early February. After that, the Take Charge Indy colt was eighth in the Fountain of Youth, ninth in the Florida Derby, and fifth in the Pat Day Mile. In all, the $47,000 yearling purchase has one win, one second, and one third.

Romans said Everfast came out of the Pat Day Mile “doing really well” and that he sees this Preakness as a “pretty wide-open race. If you’re going to run one at a big price, you could pick a tougher spot.”

Calumet leads all owners in Preakness victories with eight. The most recent of those, Oxbow in 2013, came shortly after its current owner, Brad Kelley, purchased the historic Kentucky farm from the heirs of Henryk de Kwiatkowski.

Romans, the 2012 Eclipse Award-winning trainer, got his only victory in a Triple Crown event when Shackleford captured the 2011 Preakness at 12-1. Some of the trainer’s greatest victories have come with longshots, including Court Vision, a 64-1 shot in the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Mile, and Keen Ice, a 16-1 winner over American Pharoah in the 2015 Travers.

Preakness entries were to be drawn Wednesday evening in downtown Baltimore.

Widely varied betting menu

As usual, a veritable smorgasbord of wagering options and guaranteed pools will be offered to horseplayers on the 14-race cards Friday and Saturday at Pimlico.

The annual two-day double wager linking the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes and the Preakness will be offered Friday, when first post is 11:30 a.m. Eastern. The double is a $1 minimum wager with a 21 percent takeout. Last year, handle was $715,755, with the combination of Red Ruby and Justify returning $6.60 for $1.

Pool guarantees of $300,000 will be in effect Friday for the late pick five (races 7-11), middle pick four (races 8-11), and late pick four (races 11-14).

These are the pool guarantees for Saturday (10:30 a.m. post): early pick five (races 2-6), $250,000; middle pick four (races 6-9), $500,000; pick five ending with the Preakness (races 9-13), $1 million; and pick four ending with the Preakness (races 10-13), $2 million.

:: Get the Preakness all-access package, including advance PPs

Pino has winning cameo

Mario Pino, third among active jockeys in career wins, made a successful cameo appearance on his former longtime circuit when riding Hardcandy to victory in the first race Sunday at Pimlico.

Until last weekend, Pino had not ridden races since last November at Laurel Park. “He takes off every winter and helps out his brother [trainer Mike Pino] in Florida,” agent Steve Hayes said by phone. “Now he’s back here at Presque Isle Downs.”

Through Tuesday, Pino, 57, had ridden 6,892 winners, the vast majority of them in Maryland. He trails only Perry Ouzts (7,033) and Edgar Prado (7,023) among active jockeys. They rank eighth through 10th on the all-time wins list topped by the retired Russell Baze (12,842).