Street Sense, Hard Spun to Preakness

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Despite running 1 1/4 miles faster than 19 other 3-year-olds on Saturday in the 133rd Kentucky Derby, Street Sense went right back to the track on Sunday morning at Churchill Downs for a one-mile jog, an atypical move for most trainers, but routine for Street Senses trainer, Carl Nafzger.

Nafzger said Street Sense had come out of his victory on Saturday in good shape, and would be pointed to the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on May 19.

I realized last night, Nafzger said Sunday morning, that I had focused so hard on the Derby that I hadnt looked past it. It doesnt matter, because the horse will tell you, the horse will take you to the Preakness. The way he looked this morning, were on the way.

Street Sense will remain at Churchill Downs until the middle of Preakness week, then be flown to Baltimore, Nafzger said.

Street Sense is expected to be challenged in the Preakness by as many as four other horses exiting the Derby, including runner-up Hard Spun.

He came out of it well. He ate every bite, Larry Jones, the trainer of Hard Spun, said Sunday morning.

Jones said Hard Spun would go to Joness summer headquarters, Delaware Park, on Monday morning and would remain there until being sent by van to Pimlico, probably on Wednesday of Preakness week.

Curlin, who finished third in the Derby; Sedgefield, who was fifth; and Teuflesberg, who was 17th, are other Derby runners who could come back in the Preakness.

There are at least six horses who did not run in the Derby whom the Maryland Jockey Club on Sunday said it expects for the Preakness, most notably Chelokee, who was third in the Florida Derby. Chelokee is trained by Michael Matz, and would be running in the Preakness one year after Matzs Barbaro, the 2006 Derby winner, suffered his catastrophic injuries in the Preakness.

Other new shooters, according to the Maryland Jockey Club, are C.P. West, King of the Roxy, Slews Tizzy, Xchanger, and either Flying First Class or Starbase, the latter two trained by D. Wayne Lukas, who has won the Preakness five times.

Last year, Bernardini skipped the Derby and won the Preakness.