Though they were one year removed from teaming up to win the Triple Crown, trainer Bob Baffert didn't hold any ill feelings toward Mike Smith when the Hall of Fame jockey chose to ride Omaha Beach rather than the Baffert-trained Roadster in the Kentucky Derby.
Like a lot of people, Tyler Gaffalione is about over the Kentucky Derby. He just wants to take things one day at a time, a deliberate process that will put his difficult trip on War of Will – and having to rehash it over and over – ever further in the rearview mirror.
Last year's Kentucky Derby runners dominated the 2018 Preakness, with Justify winning, Bravazo finishing second, Good Magic fourth, and Lone Sailor fifth. Only the newcomer Tenfold, who rallied to be third, prevented a Kentucky Derby sweep of the Preakness superfecta. Such dominance may prove difficult to repeat this year.
Bourbon War will wear blinkers for the first time in a race when he starts in the $1.5 million Preakness Stakes on May 18.
Heavy favorites have been a staple of recent runnings of the Preakness, so the prospect of a mostly fresh slate for the 144th running on May 18 at Pimlico in Baltimore has given at least one insider a glass-half-full outlook.
Attorneys for the owner of Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore have asked a judge to throw out a lawsuit by the city that seeks to obtain ownership of the track and its signature race, the Preakness Stakes.
While the second jewel of the Triple Crown takes on a far different look than the first, a fourth Kentucky Derby holdover surfaced Wednesday as a good possibility to run in the May 18 Preakness at Pimlico in Baltimore while one of the would-be “new shooters” dropped out.
Kentucky Derby winner Country House will not run in the Preakness Stakes, trainer Bill Mott said Tuesday, after Country House started to show signs of becoming ill at Churchill Downs, where he has remained following his Derby victory on Saturday.
Jose Ortiz will ride Anothertwistafate in the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown, on May 18 at Pimlico, trainer Blaine Wright said Tuesday.
When it became evident that Bourbon War wasn't going to make it into the body of the Kentucky Derby field, his connections began leaning toward starting him in Saturday's Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park. After they watched the results of Saturday's Kentucky Derby, his connections made a change of plans. Now, Bourbon War is headed to the $1.5 million Preakness Stakes
