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Barn notes: A cold and rainy morning
By Mike Diegnan
ABC Sports Online
BALTIMORE -- At most Triple Crown races, women typically fashion magnificent hats and sundresses, while men wear suits. On Saturday, the fashion of the day was umbrellas and gloves.
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Hugh Hefner, walking with trainer Marty Jones, is the horse to bet on if you like longshots on an off-track. |
It was a damp, cold morning around the Preakness barns. At 9:30 a.m., it was in the 50s and a light drizzle was helping make the track conditions sloppy.
"It's not a variable anybody hoped for under these conditions," said Snuck In's trainer Steve Asmussen. "Racing at this level, you want it to be run under ideal circumstances."
Actually, there was one person who was praising Mother Nature. Hugh Hefner's 28-year-old trainer Marty Jones was actually grinning while bundled up in his jacket this morning.
"I think we are happy that it's muddy," said Jones. "We were hoping to get a muddy track when we put him on a plane to come back here. I have never run him in the mud before, so it's hard to say. You never know until you actually run him in it, but he has trained great in the mornings in the mud.
"As long as it is a safe track, it is good for him. His sire [Bertrando] was one of the best mud runners to ever run. There is a pretty good chance he'll like the mud here today."
Only four horses in the field have experience in off tracks. Red Bullet finished second to Fusaichi Pegasus in the Wood Memorial in April on a wet-fast track at Aqueduct. Snuck In won the Grade III Rebel Stakes on March 25 on a good track, while Captain Steve won the Breeder's Futurity last October on a sloppy track.
Hugh Hefner is expected to help set the pace with High Yield and Hal's Hope.
"If he breaks well, and if he can make an easy lead, that would be phenomenal for this horse," Jones said. "If that were to happen, the chance for running an incredible race would be incredible."
The track's conditions will play a major factor in the race, and expect all the trainers to pay close attention to the nine races that precede the Preakness.
"The plan right now is I have to watch it, and see how the track is playing most of the day," said Red Bullet's trainer Joe Orseno, who walked the course in the morning, although it had been sealed and couldn't see much. "I'm not too worried about my horse handling the track."
"The only thing left to do is to possibly go over some of the tendencies of the day," added Asmussen, who added that he had no intention of scratching his horse. "We will observe the earlier races of the day closely, see if there are any biases that the weather or track conditions might be affecting the outcome of races to some degree, and play towards those trends."
Since none of the trainers are accustomed to the daily conditions of Pimlico, none are sure what to expect.
"We hope that we are prepared for the conditions and they will affect each horse differently," Asmussen said. "And one muddy racetrack isn't another muddy racetrack. As we all know, when you go from surface to surface, how water affects each track is probably the biggest variant. And it makes it all more today."
On Friday afternoon, a muddy track affected the races on the schedule, including the Black-Eyed Susan. After the race, jockey Kent Desormeaux, who achieved fame while riding in Maryland, said the track was "uncharacteristic."
"It's a deep, sticky mud and horses at the five-sixteenths pole are getting very tied and bouncing up and down," said Desormeaux, who rode Jostle to victory and will be aboard Fusaichi Pegasus in the Preakness.
Asmussen expects today's conditions to be even worse.
"The circumstances of today might be a little more drastic," said the Triple Crown rookie. "Yesterday, it was wet, but one race they'd seal it, the next they'd open it up. Late in the day, it leveled off and there wasn't any rain possibly the last five races. I don't think yesterday will pertain much to today because of considerably more water on the track."
Pegasus drawing well
The $4 million colt's barn was inaccessible to the media on Saturday morning, but the colt is still the talk of the racetrack.
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I totally intend to beat this horse. I am here to win. A million dollars is attractive too. ” |
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— Trainer Joe Orseno |
Just when it looked like Fusaichi Pegasus' odds would go up (some predict he will actually run at 1-2), he dropped to 1-9 by Friday.
Gunning for Pegasus
There might not be anyone gunning for Fusaichi Pegasus more than Orseno. The New York-based trainer has been circling May 20 on his calendar for weeks, waiting for his shot at challenging the horse that beat his colt in the Wood last month.
"I totally intend to beat this horse," Orseno said. "I wouldn't be here [if I thought I couldn't win]. Somebody said, 'why don't you go down there and finish second.' I would go somewhere else and win the Illinois Derby or the Ohio Derby or something else. I am here to win. A million dollars is attractive too."
Red Bullet opened at 9-2, but by Friday afternoon, the chestnut colt was being offered at 11-1, behind High Yield.
Orseno, who skipped the Derby, is pleased with the extra rest.
"It benefited this horse greatly," Orseno said. "You never know until you put him into the gate, and I think when you put him into the gate, that's when the whole Derby scene and the two weeks in-between races starts to take its toll. The horse might physically look the same and act the same, but when they run, it's really hard for a horse to repeat the races that they run.
"If they go and win a super race before the Derby and then win a super race in the Derby, that third race is the hardest one to get by. By missing that, my horse benefited a lot."
Latest odds
While Pegasus has been flying off the charts, his competitors have seen their lines grow at eye-popping odds.
Hugh Hefner, who started at 20-1, was at 70-1 by Friday evening.
"I don't think, honestly, many guys are expecting this horse to run very well," Jones said. "He's 20-1 in the program, he's probably going to go off at 50-1. It's just a no-lose situation. Everyone doesn't think the horse can compete here. He's doing so well, and with the mud, I think he might jump up and run a good race. It takes pressure off when nobody expects you to run well."
Elsewhere:
Snuck In 35-1
Impeachment 35-1
Red Bullet 11-1
High Yield 10-1
Captain Steve 18-1
Fusaichi Pegasus 1-9
Hal's Hope 30-1
Freak show
Be sure not to turn away from the races once they start. In each of the last two years, odd events have made the Preakness more of a sideshow than a horse race.
Two years ago, the power went out, creating a blacked-out Pimlico in stifling heat. Last year, a fan ran onto the track during one of the earlier races and tried to attack the field.
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