Preakness 2014: 1 Reason Each Contender Could Win at Pimlico
The Preakness is the second race in the Triple Crown Series. This year, Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome is a heavy favorite heading into the race, but as we've seen time and time again on the racing track, anything can happen.
The Preakness is a Grade 1 race held at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It was first run in 1873 and is 9.5 furloughs (or 1 3/16 miles) long. This year, only 10 horses will enter the race. Only three of the horses in that small field also raced in the Kentucky Derby.
All eyes will be on California Chrome on Saturday to see if he can keep the hope of the Triple Crown alive. However, there are nine other gifted horses who will be aiming for the victory as well. Here's a look at what could propel each of the 10 horses into history.
California Chrome: Relaxed at Pimlico
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After winning the Kentucky Derby, California Chrome is the heavy favorite at the Preakness. In fact, Chrome is seen by many experts as the first horse in quite some time to have a legitimate shot at capturing the Triple Crown.
There are many reasons that Chrome is the favorite for the Preakness, but his ease on this track is a big one.
As reported by Gary Mihoces of USA Today Sports, his exercise rider Willie Delgado said that Chrome is much more comfortable at the Pimlico track than he was at Churchill for the Kentucky Derby:
"At Churchill he would come out and do a little hop and just try to get comfortable. Here, he was hitting the track and he went jogging," Delgado said after California Chrome jogged a mile around the perimeter of the track in the opposite direction from what he'll run for Saturday's Preakness Stakes.
"Churchill wasn't really wasn't one of his favorite tracks – and everybody saw the result. So I'm hoping for the same one this time because he likes the track.
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Pimlico is more similar to the Los Alamitos Race Course in California where Chrome trains. That means bad news for the rest of the horses in the race.
Social Inclusion: Speed
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According to the oddsmakers, the horse with the best chance to take the Preakness crown from California Chrome is Social Inclusion, a still rather novice colt in his fourth career start.
Social Inclusion is such a threat to California Chrome because of his speed. Inclusion's trainer is 85-year-old veteran Manny Azpurua, who says he has waited his whole life for a horse this special.
Tom Pedulla of The New York Times chronicled Social Inclusion's emergence this year:
"[Social Inclusion] romped by seven-and-a-half lengths when he debuted Feb. 22 at Gulfstream Park in Florida. He then burst onto the national scene March 12, when he smashed the track record there with a time of 1 minute 40.97 second for a mile-and-a-sixteenth in a 10-length rout of Honor Code, a graded stakes winner. (The previous mark of 1:41 was set by Devil’s Cave less than a month earlier.)
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Speed is so important because the biggest knock on California Chrome right now is that he won the Kentucky Derby this year with the slowest winning time since 1974 of two minutes, 03.66 seconds.
Ride on Curlin: Smaller Field
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Ride on Curlin is one of only three horses doing the Kentucky Derby-Preakness double. The son of Curlin, the 2007 Preakness winner and two-time Horse of the Year should be helped by the smaller field in Pimlico.
At the Kentucky Derby, Ride on Curlin went from post 18 to seventh place at the finish. He got caught in traffic early in the race and was unable to run the quick, clean race that trainer William Gowan was hoping for, though he finished well.
With fewer horses competing at the Preakness, Rosario and Ride on Curlin should be able to get better positioning in this race. Steve Ginsberg of Reuters reports that Gowan is hanging his hopes on a clean race on Saturday:
"I would like to see a clean trip and see what our horse is really made of," Gowan told reporters on Tuesday after Ride On Curlin tested the Pimlico Race Course track for the first time.
"I thought it would be our day in the Derby but maybe it'll be our day in the Preakness.
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Dynamic Impact: Maturing at the Right Time
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Dynamic Impact is one of the more inexperienced horses in the Preakness field this year. This will only be his seventh start, and it took him until his fifth start to get his maiden win.
However, Dynamic Impact's sixth race was a big upset win over favored Midnight Hawk in the Illinois Derby last month. The win didn't provide Dynamic Impact with any Kentucky Derby points, but it did allow the horse to make the field for the Preakness.
The Illinois Derby was only a Grade 3 race, and there are many proven Grade 1 horses at the Preakness, but Dynamic Impact is certainly hitting his stride at the right time.
However, Jennie Rees of USA Today reported that his owners aren't surprised by his recent success:
"Last summer and fall we had a handful of horses that we really liked, and he was certainly one of them," said Norman Casse, the Bellarmine graduate who runs the Churchill Downs' operation for his father, trainer Mark Casse. "He ran a few times at Churchill and Keeneland and was a bit of a disappointment.
Over the winter, I don't know if he matured physically and mentally, but he definitely became a much better horse while at Oaklawn. But don't think he came out of nowhere. We certainly thought he had talent.
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Bayern: Home-Track Advantage for Napravnik
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Bayern is owned by Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who has won the Preakness six times in his career, and ridden by 26-year-old Rosie Napravnik, one of the fastest-rising stars in the racing world.
Napravnik, 26, will feel right at home at the Pimlico track, where she began working in high school. Jennie Rees of USA Today Sports talked with Napravnik about what a win a Pimlico would mean to her:
"It’s a Triple Crown race. It’s my home track with all my friends and family around. We’d have half the grandstand cheering for us – that’s what would make it special,” said Napravnik, who began galloping horses for Small and trainer Holly Robinson at Pimlico while attending Hereford High School in Baltimore County.
"I would feel like – if I was able to ride the winner of the Preakness – that I was doing it for everybody who got me started in Maryland and who gave me the opportunities that led to Fair Grounds, Kentucky and Saratoga and having a horse in the Preakness.
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It will be an emotional day for Napravnik, whose mentor Dickie Small passed away just last month. But she will hope that the hometown support will spur her (and Bayern) on as she looks to become the first female jockey to win the Preakness.
General a Rod: Consistency
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After a disappointing Kentucky Derby, General a Rod is looking to bounce back quickly at the Preakness.
General a Rod—who is named after his original owner J. Armando Rodriguez, not the baseball player—finished in 11th place at Churchill Downs. But before that, General a Rod had never finished lower than third in any of his previous five starts. Consistency isn't usual in a thoroughbred, which is why it is likely that the horse and his jockey, Javier Castellano, will get back on track easily at Pimlico.
His trainer Mike Maker told Jennie Rees of USA Today Sports why the team decided to take General a Rod to the Preakness after his Derby:
"He was farther back than he's used to in the Derby, and that was that...That's not his running style. Our initial thoughts were not to go (to the Preakness), but the way he responded led me to believe that just cross off that race and move on to the next one. I haven't been shy about my thoughts on this horse all along. I'm not jumping off his bandwagon.
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Kid Cruz: Recent Success at Pimlico
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Kid Cruz, who is named after New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz, will be running his first race against stakes company, but he has one leg up on the competition already. Just last month, Kid Cruz won the Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico.
Not only is he the only horse in the field who has a win at Pimlico, he's the only horse in the field who's even raced the track.
His trainer Linda Rice is trying to become the first female to ever train a Preakness winner. She told Tim Wilkin of ctpost.com that she's hopeful that the experience will lead to a successful race:
"We are just hoping for a big race," said Rice, who made history when she became the first woman to win a training title at Saratoga (2009). "He has run well his last two starts and he has a race over the track. This is certainly a tougher group of horses to contend with, but the timing works for us.
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Pablo Del Monte: Front-Running Speed
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Due to a late scratch by Hoppertunity two days before the Kentucky Derby, Pablo Del Monte had a last-second opportunity to run that race. However, his trainer Wesley Ward decided to hold off on the trip to Churchill in exchange for a great shot at the Preakness.
With a smaller field and therefore a better starting position (he was slotted at Post 20 at Churchill Downs), Pablo Del Monte's great speed as a front-runner will be much more of a factor. Plus, as Ward told Alicia Wincze Hughes of The Lexington Herald-Leader, having more time to prepare for Pimlico is an advantage:
"If ever he's going to get this far, he's going to get that distance in the Preakness," said Ward, who also conditioned One Hot Wish. "I know that California Chrome, he's on his game right now. I certainly don't wish anyone any bad racing luck, but, that being said, five weeks against two weeks, you'd certainly want to be in the position I'm in as far as timing-wise.
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Ring Weekend: Trainer H. Graham Motion
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Ring Weekend has had a great 2014, with a significant win coming at the Tampa Bay Derby. Unfortunately, he had to pull out of the Kentucky Derby due to a fever, and subsequently missed a few days of practice.
However, Ring Weekend has a very experienced trainer in H. Graham Motion who monitored his condition closely. Motion won the Kentucky Derby with Animal Kingdom.
Motion monitored Ring Weekend after the horse got sick, and after his breeze on Saturday, he was encouraged enough to look toward Pimlico, as reported by Alicia Wincze Hughes of The Lexington Herald-Leader (h/t The Kansas City Star):
"I'm inclined to take a shot (in the Preakness)," Motion said Saturday morning. "To be honest, I wanted to see him work like he did leading up to the Derby because I thought he worked awesome that week. It was important he had a decent work because he's obviously missed a bit of training.
He had a good work, he galloped out a mile in 1:41 so I felt very good about the way he did it.
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Ria Antonia: Jockey Calvin Borel's Experience with Fillies
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Ria Antonia is the first filly to run the Preakness in five years. Luckily, she has one very important thing in common with the 2009 Preakness winner, filly Rachel Alexandra: jockey Calvin Borel.
Borel will be riding Ria Antonia and trying to upset the boys once again at Pimlico. He certainly knows how to handle fillies, and his experience at the track will be invaluable. It's a long shot for Ria Antonia to repeat Rachel Alexandra's feat, but after California Chrome, this year's race is wide open.
Borel spoke with Jennie Rees of USA Today Sports about trainer Tom Amoss's decision to enter Ria Antonia into the race:
"[Amoss] is a handicapper. I think he has looked at the Preakness field and felt that other than (Derby winner) California Chrome, he doesn't think it's one of the strongest Preakness fields we've had. For me, the risk/reward is I'm Ron's trainer in the Midwest. I've been given a Grade I-winning filly and she's healthy and sound. It's just one race. I know we're going into it the right way.
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