DRF sales editor Joe Nevills analyzes the Preakness Stakes field, in post position order, in the form of Haiku, a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.
Cherry Wine
Loves to split traffic
Could carve out a decent check
If he gets room late
Uncle Lino
Took the SoCal prep
First time he held position
In a two-turn race
Nyquist
The Derby winner
Haven’t seen quit in him yet
The same trip wins here
Saturday's 141st Preakness Stakes marks the fifth straight year that Maryland’s signature race will be contested without a statebred runner. This reflects problems that the local Thoroughbred industry has faced, but the good news is that state legislators have instituted measures to reverse these fortunes – plus, there have been other developments recently to reward excellence. Better days for Maryland breeders seem to be on the horizon.
From the time Jump Start arrived in Pennsylvania, he has been among the state’s leading sires. His popularity with the region’s breeders is evident by the size of his book of mares. Last year, for example, he was bred to 102 mares, the second most by any horse standing in the state, behind only second-year sire El Padrino.
The common denominator for the two is they both stand at Northview Stallion Station’s Pennsylvania division in Peach Bottom. The two were so popular that they accounted for 35 percent of all mares bred to Pennsylvania stallions in 2015.
Northview Stallion Station had a stranglehold on the Maryland general sire list in 2015, being represented by the top four sires in the state by progeny earnings.
Its long-dominant sire Not For Love, now pensioned, was still at the top, and he was followed by deceased Lion Hearted, Orientate, and Great Notion. The sire list includes all active stallions as well as those pensioned or deceased who last stood in the state.
Picking up the mantle among active sires at Northview Stallion Station in Chesapeake City, Md., is Orientate, who stands the 2016 season for $5,000.
I first met Mill Reef the day men first landed on the moon. An afternoon outing from graduate school in Baltimore to Paul Mellon’s Rokeby Stud near Upperville, Va., turned into a master class in what a top-class yearling looked like, tutored by a delightful little bay colt by Never Bend out of Milan Mill, by Princequillo.
The well-bred Carrie served up an upset against Tap It All in a maiden special weight race Thursday at Santa Anita, defeating the high-priced filly by 2 3/4 lengths.
It was the second start for the Florida-bred Carrie, who is trained by Charles Stutts for owner Bryan Carney. She finished second in her debut at Los Alamitos last month.
Bodemeister, one of the most exciting stallions in an exciting class of freshman sires for 2016, was represented by his first winner on Wednesday, when Bode’s Dream won a maiden special weight at Gulfstream by 3 3/4 lengths on the front end.
Bode’s Dream, a $300,000 Keeneland September yearling, is trained by Todd Pletcher for St. Elias Stable. She is out of the Grade 2-winning Smoke Glacken mare Frolic’s Dream. Pletcher said the filly is targeting the Astoria Stakes at Belmont Park for her next outing.
