With Jose Ortiz committed to ride Early Voting, John Velazquez has picked up the mount on Kentucky Derby fourth-place finisher Simplification in the May 21 Preakness Stakes, trainer Antonio Sano said Monday.
El Camino Real Derby winner Blackadder is headed to the barn of Christophe Clement after selling for $250,000 during Friday night’s Keeneland April horses of racing age sale.
Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. combined to win 13 races from 40 starters at Belmont Park’s two meets in 2021 and he will again have a presence in New York this summer as he plans to have 16 horses based here for the spring/summer meet that begins Thursday.
The global coronavirus pandemic turned life, including the Thoroughbred racing and sales calendar, upside down in 2020. But the shuffling of the sales calendar actually played out in favor of the small breeding program of John and Dian Fradkin.
Though the first two victories of Rombauer’s career came on turf and synthetic, there was never any doubt in trainer Michael McCarthy’s mind the colt would be successful on dirt as well.
For the second time of the last four that the Preakness has been run two weeks after the Kentucky Derby, a fresh horse proved best. This time it was ROMBAUER, who got the pace duel he craves compared to what unfolded in his prior start, the Blue Grass, resulting in an 11-1 upset Saturday at Pimlico.
There’s something more tangible, more solid, more exhilarating, about actually crossing under the wire in front of everyone else. Yes, Flavien Prat won the 2019 Kentucky Derby when Country House was declared the winner via disqualification, but the unbridled joy he experienced Saturday in winning the Preakness made this brand new territory. Ooh la la, indeed.
Total betting on the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on Saturday was a record $68.69 million, up 8.6 percent over the record set in 2005 for the same race and up 10.7 percent over the total amount bet the last time it was held on its traditional date, in 2019, according to charts of the races.
Complete order of finish from the 146th running of the Preakness Stakes on May 15, 2021, at Pimlico.
For the first six furlongs of Saturday’s $1 million Preakness at Pimlico, Medina Spirit was doing his best to continue the drama of the past week. But pace pressure had softened him up. Though Medina Spirit tried to fight on, neither he nor Midnight Bourbon could resist the strong stretch run of Rombauer, a newcomer to the Triple Crown trail.
