Multiplier had never even run in a race when the calendar flipped to 2017, but the 3-year-old colt has come around quickly the last three months, and on Saturday evening at Hawthorne Race Course he won his stakes debut, capturing the Grade 3, $250,000 Illinois Derby by a head over favored Hedge Fund.
Iliad, fifth as the 3-1 favorite in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby last Saturday, will be considered for the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 20.
The Maryland Jockey Club will again offer a $100,000 trainers' bonus competition on Preakness weekend, May 19-20.
The tale of Exaggerator started back in 2012 at Lone Star Park when Matt Bryan attended a 2-year-olds in training sale at the Dallas area track in order to meet Keith Desormeaux.
So it was last Saturday when Nyquist and jockey Mario Gutierrez could not sustain the pressured momentum of a hot first quarter and half and ended up beaten conclusively by their former wing man, Exaggerator, and Pimlico homeboy Kent Desormeaux. Let the flogging begin.
Two days after his son Exaggerator won the Preakness Stakes, sire Curlin reaped immediate benefits at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic juvenile sale. His lone offering sold to George A. Mellon for $225,000 out of the consignment of bloodstock agent Bobby Dodd.
Sal Sinatra, president of Pimlico operator the Maryland Jockey Club, said that he and Tim Ritvo, chief operating officer of the Stronach Group, which owns Pimlico and Laurel Park, may have jumped the gun last year when they talked about moving the Preakness.
The 3-year-old colt crop of 2007 was widely regarded at the time as one of the best and most competitive in decades, and the three top colts – Curlin, Hard Spun, and Street Sense – all went to stud in 2008 or 2009 with considerable fanfare. Curlin proved himself the best of the three on the racetrack, and after a comparatively slow start, is now proving himself the best sire of the three.
The Preakness’s early pace is the reason why Nyquist remains a fine racehorse, even in defeat.
Betting on the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday was up sharply and set a record, buoyed by a larger field and a comparison with depressed figures from last year’s edition of the race.
