Stewart king of the Triple Crown back-wheel

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – He did it again – and one day, he hopes, he will take it a little farther.

Trainer Dallas Stewart sent out yet another longshot to blow up the gimmicks in a Triple Crown event when Tale of Verve closed steadily to be second at 28-1 in the 140th Preakness on Saturday at Pimlico.

This marks the third time in a little more than two years that Stewart has pulled off such a feat, following runner-up finishes by Golden Soul at 34-1 in the 2013 Kentucky Derby and Commanding Curve at 37-1 in the 2014 Derby. And if you’re counting other Stewart 3-year-olds that outran their odds in big races, there was the 2006 Kentucky Oaks victory at 47-1 by Lemons Forever and the second by Macho Again at 39-1 in the 2008 Preakness.

All four of his Derby and Preakness runners-up finished behind the favorite and made for huge exotic-wager payoffs.

“I’m just paying attention to my job, I guess,” Stewart said Wednesday at his main base, Churchill Downs. “It’s a horse-by-horse evaluation. Some of them were lightly raced going into it and I felt like they belonged, especially when you consider we’re always striving to be in these types of races. We’d love to win one and hopefully we’re right around the corner from one.”

Tale of Verve, bred and owned by Charles Fipke, is one of at least 10 horses expected to challenge Derby and Preakness winner American Pharoah in his bid for the Triple Crown in the June 6 Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in New York. Tale of Verve was vanned Monday from Baltimore to Belmont, said Stewart, who will travel Friday from Louisville to spend most of the next two-plus weeks there.

“My son Cole turns 15 on May 30, so I’ll come back for that, but otherwise I’ll be up there taking care of things,” Stewart said.

Tale of Verve “has a tremendous appetite,” Stewart said. “He’s definitely a colt on the way up.”

Stewart said that Lemon Drop Title, another promising 3-year-old homebred he trains for Fipke, has been sidelined with a minor foot injury.