Union Rags to bypass the Preakness Stakes says Matz
Trainer Michael Matz thinks it is irrational to bring Union Rags after a time of two weeks to run in the Grade 1, $1 million Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on 19 May, 2012, if the colt doesn’t have a shot at the Triple Crown, and on top of that it still is a long season, and the connections doesn’t want their colt to blow out steam this early in the season.
Phyllis M. Wyeth and Chadds Ford Stable’s Union Rags is well seasoned for a 3-year-old with four races as a juvenile and the in his sophomore season he has already raced thrice, and two of them took a lot out of any colt, even if he was a December foal.
“It’s a long year and I just don’t think it’s necessary to bring him back in two weeks if he doesn’t have a chance at the Triple Crown,” Matz told The Blood-Horse May 9.
However, we haven’t seen the last of Union Rags in the Triple Crown, because it is only “rational” to try out the colt in the final jewel of the Triple Crown that is the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes on 9 June, 2012, at Belmont Park, but Matz couldn’t confirm that either.
Whatever the case, one this for sure, that if the Dixie Union colt hadn’t endured what he did in the beginning of the Kentucky Derby after being sent as the 5 to 1 shot, we’ll all be looking at a different outcome to the Derby.
The colt was bumped and squeezed at the start, sandwiched between Dullahan on the outside and Take Charge Indy on his inside, leaving him less room to work in, and eventually finishing seventh after a lack of momentum gained when it was needed the most for a strong finish.
Ranking seventh in the Derby, it gave Union Rags an automatic berth in the Preakness Stakes, and after the Derby he was considered to be the early contender for the middle jewel of the Triple Crown, but it seems Matz is played it right and safe.
Still a whole season to go and bypassing one race after so many do seem a good idea for a colt - which is destined for glory.
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