The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-17)

D10 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, MAY 17 , 2022

BY CHILDS WALKER

baltimore — Kentucky Derby

runner-up Epicenter is a 6-5 favor-

ite on the morning line for the

147th Preakness Stakes, where he

will try to reclaim his status as the

top horse in this year’s 3-year-old

class.

Epicenter went off as the Derby

favorite and appeared in position

to win until 80-1 long shot Rich

Strike passed him shortly before

they hit the wire. The 1-2 finishers

were on track for a Preakness

rematch until Rich Strike’s owner,

Rick Dawson, announced last

week that the Derby champion

would skip the $1.65 million race

in favor of resting for the Belmont

Stakes.

Epicenter probably would have

been favored at Pimlico Race

Course anyway, but Rich Strike’s

withdrawal guaranteed he would

be the clear choice. The Louisiana

Derby champion will break from

the No. 8 post as determined by

Monday’s post-position draw for

the nine-horse Preakness field.

The favorite looked comfort-

able during a half-mile breeze at

Churchill Downs on Monday, and

trainer Steve Asmussen plans to

put him on a van early Tuesday for

the 11-hour ride to Baltimore.

Though Rich Strike’s charge de-

nied Asmussen his first Derby

win, the Hall of Fame trainer has

enjoyed some of his greatest suc-

cesses at Pimlico, where he won

the 2007 Preakness with Curlin

and the 2009 Preakness with Ra-

chel Alexandra.

Trainer Chad Brown saddled

Zandon to oppose Epicenter in the

Derby; two weeks later, he’ll take

his Preakness shot with a fresh

horse in Early Voting, the 7-2 sec-

ond choice. Early Voting qualified

for the Derby field, but Brown and

owner Seth Klarman opted to skip

the race and point to the Preak-

ness.

They’re attempting to follow

the same formula they used to

take the race with Cloud Comput-

ing in 2017, betting that Early Vot-

ing’s freshness will be more telling

than his relative lack of experi-

ence. The Wood Memorial runner-

up will break from the No. 5 post.

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas will try

to win his seventh Preakness with

Kentucky Oaks-winning filly Se-

cret Oath, the 9-2 third choice.

Secret Oath finished third when

she ran against male horses as the

favorite in the Arkansas Derby,

but Lukas and her owners, Rob

and Stacy Mitchell, agreed it was

worth trying to “step outside the

box” by taking a shot in the Preak-

ness.

“I think the Preakness suits her

as far as timing,” Rob Mitchell

said. “Totally different horse than

after the Arkansas Derby. She

started her move so soon in the

Arkansas Derby that she was to-

tally depleted with half a furlong

to go. Then you go all out that last

half-furlong when you have no gas

in the tank. She was really washed

out for a few days, but that wasn’t

the case with the Oaks. If any-

thing, it might have made her

stronger.”

Swiss Skydiver in 2020 and Ra-

chel Alexandra in 2009 are the

only fillies to win the Preakness

since 1924. Lukas won the 1988

Kentucky Derby with filly Win-

ning Colors, who came back to

finish third at Pimlico. Secret

Oath will break from the No. 4

post.

Fourth-place Derby finisher

Simplification is the 6-1 fourth

choice. He was the first Preakness

horse to arrive at Pimlico last

week, and assistant trainer Jesus

Prada said he loves the surface.

“I read [jockey] John Velazquez

hasn’t won the Preakness. He will

win the Preakness with this

horse,” Prada said. Simplification

drew the dreaded No. 1 post on the

far inside.

Owners Paul Fireman and Greg

Back paid an extra $150,000 to get

Creative Minister in the Preak-

ness field after he was not origi-

nally nominated for the Triple

Crown series. The gray colt did not

make his debut until March but

took a step forward with a decisive

win in an allowance race on the

Derby undercard. Now he’s a 10-1

choice for the Preakness and will

break from the No. 2 post.

“He had what I call some grow-

ing issues,” said trainer Kenny

McPeek, who won the Preakness

with Swiss Skydiver. “When we

got him ready this spring, I didn’t

Triple Crown nominate him be-

cause I didn’t think he’d be ready.

Since then, he’s just blossomed.”

Armagnac, one of the horses

transferred from suspended

trainer Bob Baffert to his former

assistant, Tim Yakteen, was a late

addition to the field. He finished

fourth in the Santa Anita Derby

but bounced back to win an allow-

ance race in California the day

after the Kentucky Derby. Armag-

nac is a 12-1 choice and will break

from the No. 7 post.

Saffie Joseph Jr. was disap-

pointed with White Abarrio’s

16th-place finish in the Derby, but

the Florida-based trainer will take

a Preakness shot with Skippylong-

stocking, the third-place finisher

in the Wood Memorial. He’s bet-

ting the 1^3 / 16 -mile distance will suit

his horse.

“I think the distance is going to

help him, but obviously, he’s going

to face quality horses,” Joseph

said. “... We’re just taking a

chance.”

Skippylongstocking, a 20-1

choice, will break from the No. 9

post.

Shortly after Rich Strike was

withdrawn from the field, trainer

Doug O’Neill and Calumet Farm

owner Brad Kelley decided to take

a shot at the Preakness with Hap-

py Jack, who finished 14th in the

Derby.

“He is checking all the boxes of a

horse that exited his recent race in

good shape. We like the Preakness

distance, and we like a shorter

field than the 20 horses in the

Derby,” said O’Neill, who won the

2012 Preakness with I’ll Have An-

other. Happy Jack is a 30-1 choice

and will break from the No. 6 post.

Fenwick, the 11th-place finisher

in the Blue Grass Stakes, is the

longest shot at 50-1. He’ll break

from the No. 3 post after joining

the field shortly before the Mon-

day entry deadline.

The Preakness lost an expected

entrant Monday morning when

Un Ojo showed warmth in the

same injured foot that kept him

out of the Derby. Trainer Ricky

Courville said the gelding must

have aggravated the injury during

weekend preparations for the

Preakness.

— Baltimore Sun

Epicenter is 6-5 favorite at Preakness

147th Preakness Stakes

Post time: 7:01 p.m. Saturday (NBC)

1. Simplification, 6-1


2. Creative Minister, 10-1


3. Fenwick, 50-1


4. Secret Oath, 9-2


5. Early Voting, 7-2


6. Happy Jack, 30-1


7. Armagnac, 12-1


8. Epicenter, 6-5


9. Skippylongstocking, 20-1

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