Tale of Verve and Bodhisattva, the two horses who could be the longest prices in what is shaping up as a small field for the 140th Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico, both had their final workouts Sunday.
Tale of Verve was entered in the Kentucky Derby but did not scratch in from the also-eligible list. He did land a top rider for the Preakness in Joel Rosario, who was available because Frosted, whom Rosario rode to a fourth-place finish in the Derby, is bypassing the Preakness.
Danzig Moon, fifth in the Kentucky Derby, will come back in the Preakness Stakes, meaning four of the first five finishers from the Derby are bound for the second leg of the Triple Crown at Pimlico on May 16.
Danzig Moon joins the first three Derby finishers – American Pharoah, Firing Line, and Dortmund – as Preakness runners. The sixth-place finisher from the Derby, Materiality, is still under consideration for the race, too.
Roy and Gretchen Jackson are excited about running Lexington Stakes winner Divining Rod in the Preakness next Saturday. They believe he is coming to hand at the right time and deserves an opportunity to face the best of his age group in the second leg of the Triple Crown.
The Jacksons are also aware that their Preakness participation will stir up memories – both for themselves and the public – of Barbaro, the 2006 Kentucky Derby and Florida Derby winner, whom they bred and raced.
Five days after his victory in the Kentucky Derby, American Pharoah returned to the track for training on Thursday morning at Churchill Downs as he began the quick turnaround for the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 16.
American Pharoah was joined by his Bob Baffert-trained stablemate Dortmund, who finished third in the Derby and is also under consideration for the Preakness.
For the first time since he finished second to American Pharoah in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, Firing Line got to run around the track at Churchill Downs. Firing Line merely jogged Wednesday, and he was scheduled to jog again Thursday after doing nothing more strenuous than walking Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. The routine coming out of a race will feel normal for Firing Line.
Gary Stevens says he knows how to beat American Pharoah in the Preakness with Firing Line. He does not say he is going to beat American Pharoah in the Preakness with Firing Line, but he knows what he needs to do to make it happen.
Once my head cleared from the confusion that the Kentucky Derby results have not been confusing for the last three years, I tried to put this Derby into proper context while looking back at how I framed my bets.
I liked Dortmund from early March but certainly understood that American Pharoah may have caught and passed his stablemate in the weeks leading up to the Derby. I was not buying into the big-margin hype for American Pharoah because he had not run that fast yet and the competition in the Derby was tested and very fast.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – If the top three finishers from the Kentucky Derby run back as expected in the May 16 Preakness Stakes, they will dominate the prerace wagering regardless of what other horses might be entered in the second jewel of the Triple Crown at Pimlico in Baltimore.
Pimlico oddsmaker Keith Feustle said Tuesday from Maryland that he expects to make Derby winner American Pharoah the heavy favorite at “about even-money” and “Dortmund slightly lower than Firing Line,” with both in the 3-1 range.
Just as in the Kentucky Derby, it looks like trainers Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher will determine the complexion of the Preakness Stakes, though unlike the Derby, the Preakness is shaping up as having a field perhaps half the size of the Derby.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – American Pharoah, Firing Line, and Dortmund, the first three finishers in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, are being pointed to the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 16, their trainers said Sunday morning at Churchill Downs.
Bob Baffert, who won his fourth Derby with American Pharoah and also trains the third-place finisher Dortmund, said, “Right now, I don’t see why not,” when asked if both would contest the Preakness.
