Scrappy T’s close call with ignominy

BALTIMORE – Ten years ago, Robbie Bailes narrowly averted becoming a sorry footnote in Preakness history. Bailes was the trainer of Scrappy T, whose erratic swerve under Ramon Dominguez at the top of the stretch caused the eventual winner, Afleet Alex, to almost fall.

The incident was so scary that Bailes said he’s watched it only a couple of times.

Bailes, who still trains an eight-horse stable at Laurel Park, said: “It was one of those things, just part of the game. If you stick around long enough, you’ll see a little bit of everything.”

Scrappy T, the winner of the Withers in his previous start, held on for second at 13-1 in the 2005 Preakness. He raced seven more times and never won again. Bailes, 50, said he still sees Scrappy T several times a year at the Ocala, Fla., farm of owner Marshall Dowell, where the 13-year-old gelding is living happily in retirement while “watching over all the babies,” said Bailes.

Robbie wasn’t the first Bailes to run a horse in the Preakness – his late father, Mert, saddled J.R.’s Horizon to a ninth-place finish in the 1990 running.