Price should be right on winner of Pimlico Special

BALTIMORE – The morning line for the Pimlico Special speaks to the depth of the race. There’s a 9-2 favorite, and eight of the 14 starters are listed at 12-1 or lower.

Formerly a 1 3/16-mile race, the Grade 3, $300,000 Pimlico Special has been lengthened to 1 1/4 miles. The Pimlico Special could get its winner from most anywhere. Todd Pletcher has two of the lukewarm choices in Rally Cry and You’re to Blame, but there are at least a half-dozen others from whom a victory would not qualify as a major surprise.

“It’s one of those wide-open races that makes you take a long look,” Mark Casse, the trainer of Flameaway, said early Wednesday. “We’re actually cross-entering in the Dixie [on turf Saturday], although I’d say we’re leaning toward the Special.”

Flameaway, if he goes, could be the horse to catch from post 11, although opponents such as Flying the Flag and Wait for It figure to keep him and jockey Julien Leparoux honest up front. Right behind him, there will be no shortage of rivals just waiting to pounce, including Rally Cry (post 2, John Velazquez), the beaten favorite last month in the Charles Town Classic, and You’re to Blame (post 13, Jose Ortiz), a sharp last-out winner at Gulfstream Park.

“Both are making their second starts off a layoff, and I’m very happy with the way they’ve been training,” said Pletcher, who owns wins in the Special with Revolutionary (2014) and Commissioner (2015). “Plus, the distance should suit them both.

“There’s a very good chance they dead heat,” Pletcher added playfully.

Another stalking type who’s stretching out after effective recent performances in middle-distance races is Cordmaker (post 6, Victor Carrasco), a locally based Curlin gelding who has improved dramatically over the last few months for trainer Rodney Jenkins.

Among the possible deep closers are War Story, Carlino, and Heavy Roller.

War Story, the lone supplementary entry ($3,000 fee), will break from post 1 under Javier Castellano, who has won three of the last six runnings of the Special. Although his bankroll of more than $2.7 million is somewhat distorted by two also-ran finishes in the Pegasus World Cup, War Story, a 7-year-old gelding with 33 starts, does have some late kick, and a fast pace would be in his favor. He most recently rallied to be third in the Charles Town Classic.

Carlino (post 4, Manny Franco) has had 10 workouts since early March for Mark Hennig, who sends in the Courtlandt Farm homebred off a nearly eight-month break. In terms of Beyer Speed Figures and running style, the 5-year-old gelding seems a good fit here.

Heavy Roller (post 5, Luis Saez) has won three of four starts since being turned over to Joe Sharp. The 5-year-old gelding earned a 101 Beyer in a February allowance romp at Oaklawn Park and most recently confirmed his good form with a gutsy allowance triumph at Keeneland.

Then there’s Flameaway, a stakes-seasoned 4-year-old with more than $900,000 in career earnings. Casse called the speedy colt’s subpar effort as the favorite last month in the Ben Ali at Keeneland “a head scratcher” but said, “I’ve never seen him better than we’ve got him now.”

Perpetuating the “beaten favorite” theme is Tenfold (post 8, Ricardo Santana Jr.), who had no mishap last month as the 2-1 choice over slop in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap. The Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred is best known for his third-place finish behind Justify in the Preakness fog last year and a subsequent victory in the Jim Dandy.

Rounding out the lineup are Just Whistle, Unbridled Juan, Bobby G, and Clubman.

The Pimlico Special has a glorious history, having been won by true legends such as War Admiral, Seabiscuit, Whirlaway, and Citation in its earliest runnings (1937-58) before going on hiatus for 29 years. Bet Twice outran Alysheba and Lost Code in an epic battle when the race was revived to great fanfare in 1988. The 2018 winner was Irish War Cry, trained by Graham Motion, who will saddle longshot Flying the Flag for his stakes debut in this renewal.

The Pimlico Special goes as race 10 on the 14-race Preakness Eve card, with post time set for 4:14 p.m. Eastern.