Matt Bryan on Wednesday was still reveling in Exaggerator’s win in the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown, last Saturday at Pimlico. The resident of Texas co-owns the horse with Ronny Ortowski, Sol Kumin, and trainer Keith Desormeaux.
“I honestly don’t think it’s completely set in,” Bryan, 46, said. “It’s a dream come true. I’ve still got a smile ear to ear.”
The Preakness is always run in a fishbowl when the Kentucky Derby winner is front and center – especially when the Derby winner is an undefeated champion with one leg up on the Triple Crown.
So it was last Saturday when Nyquist and jockey Mario Gutierrez could not sustain the pressured momentum of a hot first quarter and half and ended up beaten conclusively by their former wingman, Exaggerator, and Pimlico homeboy Kent Desormeaux.
Let the flogging begin.
Two days after his son Exaggerator won the Preakness Stakes, sire Curlin reaped immediate benefits at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic juvenile sale. His lone offering, a colt, sold to George A. Mellon for $225,000 out of the consignment of bloodstock agent Bobby Dodd.
Exaggerator is the fourth classic winner or classic-placed runner from as many crops by Curlin, joining 2013 Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice, 2014 Preakness runner-up Ride On Curlin, and 2015 Belmont third-place finisher Keen Ice.
On Preakness Day at Pimlico, Sal Sinatra, president of the Maryland Jockey Club, acknowledged at a press conference that, “The talk of moving the Preakness to Laurel has quieted down.”
On Preakness Day 2015, Sinatra said moving the middle leg of the Triple Crown was a possibility.
Sinatra said last Saturday that he and Tim Ritvo, chief operating officer of The Stronach Group, which owns Pimlico and Laurel Park, may have jumped the gun.
The 3-year-old colt crop of 2007 was widely regarded at the time as one of the best and most competitive in decades, and the three top colts – Curlin, Hard Spun, and Street Sense – all went to stud in 2008 or 2009 with considerable fanfare.
BALTIMORE. – It was a little weird, coming into this Preakness on Saturday. So many people thought Nyquist’s march toward an attempted sweep of the Triple Crown series at Belmont Park on June 11 was going to be easy, a fait accompli, and I must include myself in this as well. Even crusty curmudgeons are susceptible to rookie mistakes.
Betting on the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday was up sharply and set a record, buoyed by a larger field and a comparison with depressed figures from last year’s edition of the race.
Betting on the 11-horse Preakness, won by the second choice, Exaggerator, was $61.3 million, up 16.2 percent from $52.7 million on an eight-horse field last year, according to a chart-by-chart comparison of the races. Betting on the entire 14-race card was strong as well, rising 10.5 percent to a record $94.9 million, according to the charts.
BALTIMORE – On a cold, rainy, dreary afternoon, the wattage from the smiles of those connected to Exaggerator could have lit up the town, from the Inner Harbor to Camden Yards, to Fells Point, and all the way to Pimlico Race Course.
Exaggerator had given futile chase to Nyquist at Santa Anita, Keeneland, and just two weeks ago in the Kentucky Derby when finishing second, but on Saturday, in his fifth try, he had finally, memorably prevailed in the 141st Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown.
In Charm City, the fifth time was the charm.
BALTIMORE – Live by his speed, die by his speed.
That was the game plan trainer Doug O’Neill wanted to employ for his Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist in Saturday’s $1.5 million Preakness Stakes at sloppy Pimlico.
“If we’re going to get beat, let’s get beat being aggressive and not trying to get cute and get in trouble,” O’Neill said.
The 141st running of the Preakness Stakes features the one-two (and ninth-place) finishers from the Kentucky Derby, but from a pace standpoint they are not at all similar. The Derby featured one clear one-dimensional speed in Danzing Candy, with a couple of stalkers and a dozen or so closers. The Preakness, of course, is loaded with speed, and that makes taking a short price on Nyquist dicey regardless of his credentials.
