Recapturetheglory Enters Preakness
Big Brown Scares Off Other 18 Derby Entrants; Jogged Mile May 7
Jogging an easy mile on May 7, Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown remained scheduled for the Preakness Stakes May 17 with only Recapturetheglory to try him again.
Who wants a second shot at Big Brown? Just about no one has responded to that challenge. Only Kentucky Derby entrant Recapturetheglory, the Cherokee Run colt who finished the Derby in fifth position, is entered for the Preakness Stakes May 17.
Only Big Brown has a chance to win this season's Triple Crown
Other trainers have pointed their various champs elsewhere in a why-risk-the-outcome avoidance of another race two short weeks from Derby Day. A 14-day period is a difficult turnaround for most Thoroughbreds, one trainers don't like. And afterall, Big Brown, a Boundary colt, is the only horse in the world with a shot at the Triple Crown championship this season.
Recapturetheglory set to take his BB shot
Recapturetheglory's trainer, Louie Roussell III, agrees that Big Brown is a "bear" of a horse and beating him won't be easy. But he and co-owner, Ronnie Lamarque, like the Preakness as the kind of race that favors their Illinois Derby champion. "We're there (Preakness) to win," Roussell III announced, giving no quarter to things just past.
The co-owners believe in the moment, and at the moment they believe they have a capable champion who is a Preakness contender. Assistant trainer Lara Van Deren jogged the IIIinois Derby winner a mile, then galloped him a mile Wednesday morning.
Lamarque said the colt looked better than he did before the Derby, not lethargic as might be expected a few days after a big effort. "...Big Bad Leroy Brown. We're ready to go against him," Lamarque said.
Dutrow, Jr.: "Their numbers don't match up with his."
While the Preakness field takes shape, Big Brown and Richard Dutrow, Jr., his trainer, have a few days to speculate on the new shooters to be faced in the Preakness Stakes, the second jewel of the Triple Crown series that hasn't been won since Affirmed closed the door on Alydar in 1978.
BB handled a mile jog, also Wednesday morning, under the hands of Michelle Nevin, his regular exercise rider. Dutrow doesn't like the two-week turnaround that Big Brown faces, and he hopes some new shooter doesn't run big on Preakness day. "He's got to react to it," Dutrow said of the short rest stop, but he said he thinks BB can run a lesser race in the Preakness and still beat his competition.
Citation still a history lesson
In the meantime, history reveals that no horse other than Citation in 1948 faced a completely new field in the Preakness Stakes after winning the Kentucky Derby. Citation captured the second jewel by 5-1/2 lengths, then demolished the Belmont Stakes entrants by 25 lengths.
