WALK IN PARK: Trainer Shug McGaughey takes his Kentucky Derby winner Orb for a stroll at Pimlico yesterday in preparation for Saturday’s Preakness. The even-money favorite drew the one post position for the race. (Reuters)
WALK IN PARK: Trainer Shug McGaughey takes his Kentucky Derby winner Orb for a stroll at Pimlico yesterday in preparation for Saturday’s Preakness. The even-money favorite drew the one post position for the race. (Reuters)
BALTIMORE — The worst thing about Orb breaking from post 1 in Saturday’s 138th Preakness Stakes, trainer Shug McGaughey said yesterday after the Kentucky Derby winner drew the rail when post positions were drawn for the middle jewel of the Triple Crown, is that “now I’ll have to answer questions about it for two days.”
After coming off a resounding 2 1/2-length score in the Run for the Roses, Orb was tabbed the even-money favorite in a field of nine for the 1 3/16-mile Pimlico classic, and there is a growing groundswell of support that he not only will win the Preakness, but complete the sweep in the June 8 Belmont Stakes, ending the 35-year Triple Crown drought dating back to Affirmed in 1978.
It is a measure of respect that only eight were entered to oppose Orb, tying this as the shortest Preakness field in 13 years with 2006, when Barbaro scared many away, and 2007, which featured a rematch of Street Sense, Hard Spun and Curlin, the 1-2-3 finishers in the Derby.
“I’m looking forward to Saturday afternoon,” said McGaughey, still oozing the same confidence he did before the Derby. “I’ve got an even-money shot in the Preakness. What more could you hope for?”
Though admitting he would have preferred an outside post, McGaughey said Orb won the Fountain of Youth from post 1, and feels there is enough speed in the race to spread out the field so Orb won’t get boxed in, despite having a target on his back.
“I’m not going to worry about it,” McGaughey said. “Rider’s like Joel [Rosario] figure out what to do. He’ll have him in the right spot.”
None of the three horses that finished immediately behind Orb at Churchill Downs — Golden Soul, Revolutionary and Normandy Invasion — is back to try him again. Mylute (fifth in the Derby), Oxbow (sixth), Will Take Charge (eighth), Itsmyluckyday (15th) and Goldencents (17th) hope to emulate Snow Chief, Hansel, Pine Bluff, Tabasco Cat, Louis Quatorze, Point Given, Lookin at Lucky and Shackleford, who over the previous 27 years rebounded to win the Preakness after finishing off the board in the Derby.
Three new shooters enter the Triple Crown fray: Departing, an impressive winner in four of his five starts including the April 20 Illinois Derby, who grew up with Orb in the same paddock at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky; Govenor Charlie, making his first start since setting a track record in the March 24 Sunland Park Derby, trained by five-time Preakness winner Bob Baffert; and Titletown Five, fourth last out in the April 27 Derby Trial for trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who has won the Preakness five times. Lukas also saddles Oxbow and Will Take Charge.
Pimlico linemaker Frank Carulli made Mylute the 5-1 second choice because he will be ridden by the popular Rosie Napravnik, who began her career in Maryland and will be just the third female jockey to ride in the Preakness. Departing, seeking to become the third gelding to win the Preakness since 1914, is next at 6-1.
“There are only nine horses, so post position isn’t important,” said Departing’s trainer, Al Stall Jr., who handed Zenyatta her only defeat when he beat her with Blame in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic. “[Orb] is going to have to go around [horses]. Out of the nine numbers, the ‘1’ is probably the one you want the least.”
Trainer Doug O’Neill, who sent out I’ll Have Another to win last year’s Derby and Preakness, said he thinks his Santa Anita Derby winner Goldencents can make up the 49 1/2 lengths he finished behind Orb in Kentucky.
“We were disappointed in our effort, but we think it was the [sloppy] track,” O’Neill said. “That wasn’t your standard wet-fast kind of track. It was almost like peanut butter, and the horses that were involved early ended up in the back of the pack.
“Goldencents had never been in that scenario where he was getting a lot of kickback [mud in his face]. You’ve got a different track here, a shorter stretch and tighter turns. Our guy is doing really well, and with a smaller field and good weather, I think we can turn the tables on Orb.”
