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The likely field for the Belmont Stakes on June 5 increased to 11 with the addition of Dave in Dixie.
The decision to enter Dave in Dixie was made by the owner Ike Thrash after a one-mile workout by the
3-year-old colt at Hollywood Park. Dave in Dixie won one of two starts last year. In three starts this year,
he finished second in the Robert Lewis Stakes, sixth in the San Felipe and fifth in the Illinois Derby on
April 3. Thrash said Dave in Dixie would be ridden by Calvin Borel, who won the Kentucky Derby aboard Super Saver.
The Belmont field includes Drosselmeyer, First Dude, Fly Down, Game on Dude, Ice Box,
Make Music for Me, Spangled Star, Stately Victor, Stay Put and Uptowncharlybrown.

I think this is one of the most famous and awesome races in the history of horse racing. Secretariat, an outstanding big chestnut horse, wins by 31 lengths(!!!), making the world 12F record, achieving triple crown.

ELMONT, N.Y. – No more calls, please, we have a winner.

John Velazquez has been tabbed by trainer Nick Zito to ride Fly Down in the $1 million Belmont Stakes on June 5, the Hall of Fame trainer told Daily Racing Form on Tuesday morning. Coming off a decisive six-length victory in the Grade 2 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont on May 8, Fly Down figures to be among the top three betting choices in the Belmont along with stablemate Ice Box, the Kentucky Derby runner-up; and First Dude, the Preakness runner-up.

“Belmont Park, John Velazquez, Nick Zito, we’ve had good luck together,” Zito, who trains Fly Down for owner Richard Pell, said from Saratoga. “Plus, I’ve known Johnny since he was 18. I had a lot of good jockeys wanting to ride this horse, but I went with the New York jockey.”

Velazquez rode Fly Down to a third-place finish in his debut last October at Belmont.

Fly Down had been ridden by Jose Lezcano in the Dwyer. Lezcano is the regular rider of Ice Box, aboard whom he won the Florida Derby and who he will ride in the Belmont.

Zito is a two-time Belmont Stakes winning trainer, having won it in 2004 with Birdstone, ridden by Edgar Prado, and 2008 with Da’ Tara, ridden by Alan Garcia.

Velazquez won the 2007 Belmont Stakes aboard the filly Rags to Riches and finished second in the race last year aboard Dunkirk.

The only horse Velazquez rode for Zito in the Belmont Stakes was Pinpoint, who finished last in 2005.

(AP) BALTIMORE — Lookin at Lucky won the Preakness, ending Super Saver’s bid to become the first Triple Crown winner in 32 years.
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Jackson Bend was third and Yawanna Twist was fourth.

Super Saver won the Kentucky Derby by 2 1/2 lengths with Calvin Borel in the saddle and riding the rail. This time, Borel was back aboard the 3-year-old bay colt, but didn’t get to the rail – his signature trip.

Super Saver finished eighth, only the second time in eight career races that he failed to finish in the money.

Lookin At Lucky was favored in the Derby, but finished sixth on a sloppy track. The horse was ridden by Martin Garcia, who replaced Garrett Gomez after Lucky’s disappointing Derby run.

Lookin At Lucky paid $6.80, $4.60 and $3.80. The winning time was 1:55.47 over 1 3/16 miles.

First Dude returned $16.60 and $9.20, and Jackson Bend paid $6.60.

Dublin finished fifth, ahead of Paddy O’Prado and Caracortado. Then came Super Saver, followed by Schoolyard Dreams, Aikenite, Pleasant Prince and Northern Giant.

It was the ninth Triple Crown win for trainer Bob Baffert and his fifth Preakness win, tied for second place with D. Wayne Lukas.

Gomez was aboard Lukas’ Dublin, who broke poorly from the 12th post and was not a factor.

PP, Horse , Trainer, Jockey, Odds
1 Aikenite , Todd Pletcher, Javier Castellano, 20-1
2 Schoolyard Dreams Derek S. Ryan, Eibar Coa, 15-1
3 Pleasant Prince, Wesley Ward Julien Leparoux, 20-1
4 Northern Giant D. Wayne Lukas, Terry Thompson, 30-1
5 Yawanna Twist Rick Dutrow, Edgar Prado, 30-1
6 Jackson Bend Nick Zito, Mike Smith, 12-1
7 Lookin at Lucky Bob Baffert, Martin Garcia, 3-1
8 Super Saver Todd Pletcher, Calvin Borel, 5-2
9 Caracortado Michael Machowsky, Paul Atkinson, 10-1
10 Paddy O’Prado Dale L. Romans, Kent Desormeaux, 9-2
11 First Dude Dale L. Romans, Ramon Dominguez, 20-1
12 Dublin D. Wayne Lukas, Garrett Gomez, 10-1

BALTIMORE — He ran away with the Kentucky Derby and has trained in the days since like his mile-and-a-quarter victory on the first Saturday in May has taken little out of him. So why is Super Saver merely a lukewarm 5-2 morning-line favorite to capture the 135th running of the Preakness Stakes?

Super Saver’s Derby victory is partly suspect because it came on a rain-soaked and sloppy racetrack. He is a proven mudder, winning twice and finishing second on wet tracks.

Super Saver also is considered, in horseplayers’ parlance, a-horse-for-the-course, in that he had previously demonstrated an affinity for Churchill Downs last November when he won the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. Plus, in Calvin Borel, he had the master of Churchill on his back.

Then there was the rough trips endured by the other 19 horses in America’s greatest race. This was perhaps evidenced by the Pimlico oddsmaker, Frank Carulli, making Lookin at Lucky the 3-1 second choice.
Super Saver’s connections, however, do not doubt their horse. They have been too busy accepting congratulations for their Derby victory and readying Super Saver to capture the second leg of the Triple Crown.

“We think about the Derby for four or five months, and then you have to turn around and get ready for the Preakness,” Elliott Walden, vice president and racing manager for WinStar Farm, said.

Lookin at Lucky broke from the No. 1 post in Louisville, and lost all chance when he was bounced off the rail twice in the opening eighth of a mile. On Saturday, Lookin at Lucky and Super Saver will be next to each other in the No. 7 and 8 posts and, with a manageable field of 12, traffic should not be a problem.

Still, Lookin at Lucky’s trainer Bob Baffert took Garrett Gomez off the colt and replaced him with Martin Garcia.

“I’m just glad that the horse finally drew a decent post position,” Baffert said. “Now he’s going to have to run hard. The way he’s been training, I don’t see why he wouldn’t.”

Finally, there is much consternation among handicappers about the pace of the race. There is not as much early speed in the race as there was in the Derby, and Borel and Super Saver took advantage of employing stalking tactics and coming from as far as eight lengths back.

But Borel warns that Super Saver is a versatile sort that has won twice in gate-to-wire efforts. In fact, the he has already predicted that the colt was going to become the 12th Triple Crown champion and the first since Affirmed in 1978.

“He’s not a horse like Street Sense who’s got to come out the back door,” Borel said of the Derby winner that he rode who was the runner up here to Curlin in 2007.

Last year, Borel was aboard the filly Rachel Alexandra and rode her to a front-running victory over the boys from the No. 13 post.

“He doesn’t have to be on the lead,” Borel said of Super Saver. “If they give it to me, good; if they don’t, no. That’s a big plus — he plays with me. I can do what I want with him.”

Super Saver put in his final workout Monday for Saturday’s Preakness Stakes and the pursuit of the Triple Crown.

The Kentucky Derby winner breezed three furlongs in :36.60 at Churchill Downs under jockey Calvin Borel, galloping out five furlongs in 1:02.

“I was very pleased with the work,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “We are very encouraged by what we’ve seen since the Derby from him. Everything is good.”

Borel, who won the Preakness last year aboard the filly Rachel Alexandra, was also satisfied.

“It was real good, just what we wanted,” Borel said. “He switched leads on key – we’ve been working on that a little bit. It was perfect. You couldn’t ask for better, I don’t think.”

Super Saver is scheduled to ship to Baltimore Wednesday and gallop over the Pimlico surface on Thursday and Friday.

“He is pretty unique,” Pletcher said of Super Saver. “He is very athletic, a good mover and very efficient.”

Also working for Pletcher was Mission Impazible, who was ninth in the Derby. The 3-year-old breezed three furlongs in :36.40.

A decision on whether he will start in the Preakness likely will be made Wednesday.

Pletcher will also start Aikenite, second in the Derby Trial, in the Preakness.

One who appears likely for the Preakness is the unlucky Lookin At Lucky, who finished sixth in the Derby after breaking from the tough rail post.

“I’ve been watching him, looking for any little sign of not wanting to come,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “He’s been training well here, he’s moving well and is his old self. He deserves another chance at it.”

To change his luck, Baffert has changed jockeys, from the experienced Garrett Gomez to the 26-year-old Martin Garcia.

Gomez got acquainted with his new Preakness mount, Dublin, after working him a half-mile Monday at Churchill Downs in :48.40.

“I liked what I felt under me,” said Gomez, who is replacing Terry Thompson in the saddle. “He was very responsive. (Trainer) Wayne (Lukas) wanted a good easy half and didn’t want much of a gallop-out.”

Jackson Bend joined the Preakness field after blazing four furlongs in :46.60 Monday at Churchill Downs. The work was the fastest of 69 at the distance.

The Nick Zito-trained runner finished 12th in the Derby, but is hoping to rebound like Louis Quatorze did for Zito in 1996 when he went from 16th in the Derby to first in the Preakness.

Finally, A Little Warm was withdrawn from the Preakness, allowing First Dude into the race.

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Aikenite and Pleasant Prince, the second- and third-place finishers in the Derby Trial two weeks ago, tuned up for next Saturday’s 135th Preakness Stakes with workouts in Kentucky on Sunday morning.

Aikenite, who has been training at Churchill Downs, breezed five furlongs in 1:01.40, a work trainer Todd Pletcher called a “standard work for him.” Pletcher caught Aikenite going his final three furlongs in 23.60 seconds.

Over at Keeneland, Pleasant Prince zipped five furlongs in 59 seconds.

“He couldn’t have breezed any better,” said his trainer, Wesley Ward. “The track was beautiful. It was a nice, cool morning here. He breezed with two other horses, finished up with his chin to his chest.”

Julien Leparoux, who will ride Pleasant Prince in the Preakness, was aboard for the drill.

Both Aikenite and Pleasant Prince are scheduled to fly to Baltimore on Wednesday with a number of horses who will be running at Pimlico next weekend. The most prominent horse on that flight will be Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver, who is scheduled to have a half-mile workout on Monday morning at Churchill Downs.

Monday works are also scheduled at Churchill Downs for Preakness runners Dublin, Hurricane Ike, Northern Giant, and Yawanna Twist. A Little Warm is scheduled to work at Delaware Park.

The Preakness status of Derby favorite Lookin At Lucky is expected to be announced on Monday, too. If he runs, Martin Garcia is expected to ride, replacing Garrett Gomez, who now rides Dublin.

Entries for the Preakness will be taken on Wednesday at Pimlico, and post positions are to be drawn at the track at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The Preakness field is limited to 14 starters.

Conveyance, who finished 15th in the Kentucky Derby, on Friday was taken out of consideration for the Preakness by trainer Bob Baffert, who still is pointing Lookin At Lucky to the Preakness.

There is a strong chance there could be a jockey replacement on Lookin At Lucky, who has been ridden by Garrett Gomez. Martin Garcia, who rode Conveyance, is “still on hold with Mr. Baffert” for the Preakness and other races that day at Pimlico, said Garcia’s agent, Jim Pegram.

Baffert was not happy with Gomez’s ride in the Kentucky Derby, nor in the Santa Anita Derby in his prior start. Pegram is the brother of Mike Pegram, a co-owner of Lookin At Lucky.

“Everything’s on hold,” Jim Pegram said. “I haven’t received any word from Bob.”

If Gomez loses the mount on Lookin At Lucky, that could set off a domino effect regarding other Preakness mounts, since a jockey of Gomez’s reputation surely would be pursued by other parties. Trainer D. Wayne Lukas, for instance, has two runners in the race, and right now has Terry Thompson named on Dublin but has no rider named for Northern Giant.

Noble’s Promise headed to Royal Ascot

Noble’s Promise has been ruled out of the Preakness and will be pointed instead to a race at the Royal Ascot meet in England in June, trainer Ken McPeek said Friday.

Noble’s Promise had been considered as a possible starter for the 135th Preakness after finishing fifth in the Kentucky Derby last Saturday, but McPeek said the more prudent decision is not to rush into that race and to wait instead for the June 15 St. James Palace at Ascot, a Group 1 race at about a mile on the turf.

Noble’s Promise led past the quarter pole in the Derby before fading to fifth behind the victorious Super Saver

Lookin At Lucky’s status for the Preakness Stakes is still unclear, but one sure thing is Garrett Gomez will not be riding the Kentucky Derby favorite Saturday.

Gomez will ride the D. Wayne Lukas-trained Dublin, according to Bloodhorse. Dublin finished seventh in the Kentucky Derby.

Baffert had been openly critical of Gomez’s ride on Lookin At Lucky after a third-place finish in last month’s Santa Anita Derby. Baffert would not commit to keeping Gomez with his top 3-year-old following Lookin At Lucky’s troubled sixth-place run in the Derby.

Baffert said he informed Gomez’s agent, Ron Anderson, of the change.

“I told Ron I didn’t know if I was going to run the horse, but if I did I was going to make a change only because of the bad luck we’ve been having lately,” Baffert said. “Just out of respect, I said, ‘If you can find another mount, find it,’ because I didn’t want him to get shut out of finding a mount.”

Martin Garcia, who rode Baffert’s Conveyance in the Derby, would be a likely choice to replace Gomez.

Baffert told Bloodhorse on Saturday that Lookin At Lucky was “52 percent” likely for the Preakness. That was an increase from his estimate of “51 percent” a day earlier.

“Every day he’s looking better and better to me,” Baffert said. “He was tired the next day (after the Derby), but he’s moving well and that’s the main thing. … The thing is, he just had some bad trips, but the last race, there’s nothing Garrett could have done. The one hole killed him.”

Caracortado is in

Caracortado punched his ticket to the Preakness with a solid work with regular rider Paul Atkinson at Santa Anita Park on Saturday.

Caracortado ran 7 furlongs in 1:24.60, the faster of two works at the distance. The gelding won the first five races of his career, including the Grade II Robert Lewis Stakes, but has not raced since a troubled fourth-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby on April 3.

“He looked great,” trainer Mike Machowsky said. “He got a good blow out of it and it tightened him up. He looked good back at the barn.”

First Dude also ready

First Dude is also a confirmed starter for the Preakness after a 5-furlong work in 1:00.60 under Tammy Fox at Churchill Downs on Saturday.

“I was very pleased with the work. It’s on to the Preakness,” trainer Dale Romans said.

Romans’ other Preakness probable, third-place Kentucky Derby finisher Paddy O’Prado, galloped 11/2 miles after First Dude’s work.

Super Saver looking good

Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver galloped 11⁄8 miles early Saturday morning with exercise rider Kevin Willey aboard.

“He galloped really, really well,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, who arrived in Louisville Friday night and was seeing the Derby winner on the track for the first time since his victory in last Saturday’s Run for the Roses.

“His energy level is very good and he has rebounded quickly. You always hope for that coming back in two weeks.”

Super Saver might work out Monday.

“Right now, I am leaning toward working him,” Pletcher said. “I want to see how he gallops tomorrow, but most likely it will be an easy half-mile.”

Other notes

Pleasant Prince: The Florida Derby runner-up will work 5 furlongs at Keeneland on Sunday morning with regular rider Julien Leparoux. Trainer Wesley Ward praised Leparoux, the reigning Eclipse Award winner for outstanding jockey.

“I have a lot of confidence in that rider,” said Ward, himself a former rider. “He knows the horse very well and the horse has run very, very well for that jock, who always seems to be able to place him wherever he wants. The horse has got tactical speed where he can lay up close if he’s put in that situation.”

Make Music for Me: Trainer Alexis Barba said she would meet with owners Ellen and Peter Johnson on Saturday afternoon to discuss the next start for the Derby fourth-place finisher. He is expected to compete in the Belmont Stakes on June 5.

“It looks very unlikely that we’re running in the Preakness,” Barba said.

Jackson Bend: Nick Zito is expected to make a final decision regarding Jackson Bend in the next few days. The Wood Memorial runner-up galloped 13⁄8 miles Saturday.

He was 12th in the Derby.

Hurricane Ike: The Grade III Derby Trial winner is scheduled to work Monday morning at Churchill.

Schoolyard Dreams: He will be vanned to Pimlico from New Jersey the day before the race, according to trainer Derek Ryan.

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/08/1933781/preakness-notes-gomez-wont-ride.html#ixzz0nRYUDPef