Shackelford to strive for the Eclipse Award this year with the Preakness under his belt
Among the top who are contending for the American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse pf the Year, one of the brightest candidate is Dale Romans trained Shackleford, who succeed in winning the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes this
season with Jesus Castanon. This was on 21st May at Pimlico Race Course.
"He was a little hot in the beginning, but he was able to calm down," Castanon said. "He's a good horse and able to handle it”.
The chestnut colt was nothing short of aggressive before the race and could hardly wait to leash out from his stall, it was almost as if he knew that the race belonged to him but the jockey did confess that Shackleford has a habit of growing nervous right
before the beginning of the race to an extent that the colt starts sweating.
This is really not the ideal way to start off with races so important as this approach tends to get the horse exhausted even before he starts with the battle for the title.
Right after breaking his maiden special weight on 27th November last season, Shackleford won an allowance race on the 5th of February. Since then he has raced nine times through this season and never racing for anything below Grade
2 races.
On 26th February, Shackleford settled in for a fifth position in the Fountain of Youth Grade 2 at Gulfstream Park which was followed by the Florida Derby Grade 1 on 3rd April.
It was the Kentucky Derby on 7th May that he lost against his hard core competitor for the Eclipse Award, Animal Kingdom, at Churchill Downs and came fourth.
Breaking away from the pattern of these defeats he won the Preakness Grade 1 on 21st May at Pimlico which was for a distance of 1 3/16.
This race found reversal of roles as Animal Kingdom was the one who qualified as the runner up for this Grade 1 race.
Ever since then, Shackleford has not been able to post a victory but has come fifth in the Belmont Stakes on 11th June then second in Haskell Grade 1 on 31st July, Travers Stakes Grade 1 saw him positioned eighth.
The last two attempts have been pretty consistent as he came second in the Indiana Derby Grade 2 on 1st October at Hollywood and then the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile Grade 1 on 5th November.
Out of ten races, three wins and four seconds is not disappointing and gives him the edge for excelling in the Eclipse Award contest.
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