Preakness Stakes expected to reel in a large field
The 137th running of the Grade 1, $1 million Preakness Stakes at Pimlico race course assembles a large field of runners on 19 May, 2012.
The winner of the Kentucky Derby, I’ll Have Another sits pretty on top of the pile after amassing graded stakes earnings of $2,060,600, but the top seven finishers of the Kentucky Derby will have an automatic berth in the Preakness Stakes.
Bodemeister, who showed what he can do in the Derby by finishing second, comes after I’ll Have Another in second for the Preakness Stakes, and the other colts who earned a check at the Run for the Roses are Dullahan, Went The Day Well, Creative Cause, while
Hansen and Liaison round up the top seven.
The second tier of the Preakness Stakes, which is sorted out by open stakes earning retained qualifiers like the Steven Asmussen trained, Isn’t He Clever, along with Optimizer, Hierro, and Teeth of the Dog.
To round out the 14 available spots for the Preakness Stakes, the third tier is based on total earnings the colts have amassed during their time racing, and these spots will be filled up by Tiger Walk, Paynter and Pretension.
Two spots will be left, and the entry will be chosen on entry time which leaves horses staying at the also-eligible list.
The Derby winning trainer, Doug O’Neill didn’t accompany his start runner, I’ll Have Another to Baltimore, where he got a celebrity treatment from the airport to Barn D at Pimlico, Doug left for Santa Anita and on his behalf assistant trainer Jack Sisterson
is taking care of the 3-year-old colt.
I’ll Have Another will be limited to light exercises prior to the Preakness Stakes.
“He looks like he never ran,” he said. “He’s eaten everything up. He wants to get out of the barn. He’s quiet once he’s in there, but once he’s out, it’s like, ‘OK, I want to go out to the track now.’ That’s something we want to see. After a race, especially
one like the Kentucky Derby, you’re always wondering if it has taken something out of him, but he’s doing fantastic.”
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