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Albaugh Family Stable's Cozzetti went out after the renovation break and galloped 1 1/2 miles under exercise rider Mary Doser Thursday morning at Pimlico Race Course. The gray colt flew in from Louisville on Wednesday. "He's doing good; he ate everything last night," said Doser, who is acting as assistant trainer until Dale Romans arrives Thursday night. "He tried to bite everybody, so I guess he's all right." Romans saddled Shackleford for a victory over Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom in last year's Preakness. Still looking for his first victory as a three-year-old, Cozzetti will attempt to make Romans the first trainer to score back-to-back victories in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown since Bob Baffert accomplished the feat in 2001-02 with Point Given and War Emblem, respectively. Cozzetti, who finished fourth behind Bodemeister in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby in his last start, will be ridden again by Jose Lezcano. He will break from the outside post in the field of 11. |
Winter Park Partners' Zetterholm galloped under exercise rider Mario Madrid Thursday morning after the renovation break.
"He did really well," said assistant trainer Blake Dutrow, 20, who is handling Zetterholm for his uncle, trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. "The track is a little better, so we let him do a little more. He handled the track very well. He got a little more out of his gallop today and seems a little more tired. That's OK."
Blake Dutrow said the New York-bred will gallop again Friday and school in the indoor paddock, where he will be saddled for the Preakness.
Zetterholm shipped from Aqueduct to Pimlico on Saturday and was the second Preakness runner to arrive at the track. With trainer Doug O'Neill opting to stable I'll Have Another in Barn D, Zetterholm was assigned Stall 40 in the Preakness Stakes Barn, the space usually reserved for the Derby winner.
The stakes barn was rather quiet until Wednesday afternoon when a number of Preakness runners and other stakes horses arrived from California and Kentucky. Blake Dutrow said Zetterholm has adjusted to the increased activity level.
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"He's fine," Dutrow said. "It's not any more action that he gets on a regular day at Aqueduct. We've got so many horses there. There are a lot of people out and he just likes to stand and look and check it out. He handles everything very well. He's a smart horse." Blake Dutrow is the grandson of the late Maryland training legend Richard Dutrow Sr. His father, Chip, has trained on his own and has worked for his brothers, Richard and Tony. Blake Dutrow grew up in Maryland and attended Old Mill High School in Millersville. He said the first Preakness he remembers attending was in 2001, won by Point Given, when his uncle Tony's horse, Burning Roma, won the $100,000 Sir Barton Stakes on the undercard. "At that time, Tony and my dad were together," Dutrow said. "It was kind of a big deal. I was just learning the game back then." Junior Alvarado has the return mount aboard Zetterholm Saturday. The other three new shooters in the Preakness are based elsewhere in Maryland. |
J.W. Singer LLC's Teeth of the Dog galloped 1 1/2 miles and stood in the gate at Fair Hill Training Center Thursday morning. Trainer Michael Matz said the third-place finisher in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial would likely ship to Pimlico from the Elkton, Maryland, training facility on Friday.
Teeth of the Dog, who will be ridden by Joe Bravo, will be Matz's first Preakness starter since Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner who suffered what proved to be fatal injuries in the 2006 Preakness.
"I have run some horses there on Preakness Day since then," Matz said. "Obviously, things might go into the back of your mind what happened, but you just try to go on from there."
Trainer Ignacio Correas sent out Tiger Walk for a 1 3/8-mile gallop at historic Sagamore Farm before making the short drive to Pimlico to attend Thursday morning's Alibi Breakfast.
"He did really good," said Correas, who is set to saddle his first Preakness runner. "He's doing great. I think he's going to improve with the 'cheaters' (blinkers). I don't think the distance will be a problem; it's actually going to benefit him."
Tiger Walk's last start came in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 7 when he finished fourth behind Gemologist. He is 0-for-3 his sophomore season, all in graded stakes, after winning a pair of races at 2.
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Former Maryland riding champion Kent Desormeaux gets the mount for the first time, but they will break from the demanding inside post in the field of 11. The last Preakness winner to emerge from post 1 was Tabasco Cat in 1994, and you'd have to go back 34 years for the previous rail winner (Bally Ache). "There have been 10 winners from post 1," said Correas, who had obviously examined the probabilities after Thursday's draw. "You need the horse, so I guess it's up to him. We're not going to go wide on the first turn; that's for sure." Kidwells Petite Stable's Pretension galloped 1 1/2 miles at Bowie Training Center Thursday morning. The son of Bluegrass Cat captured the Canonero II Stakes at Pimlico at 1 1/16 miles last time out, and trainer Chris Grove is confident that the 1 3/16 miles of the Preakness will be within his colt's scope. "With (his dam) Main Streetin' by Street Cry on the bottom, I think he'll be able to get a mile and three-sixteenths," said Grove, who saddled his first Preakness starter, Norman Asbjornson (11th), last year. |
Javier Santiago will have the Preakness mount.