Preakness 2018 news: Saturday's race a 'measuring stick' for Tenfold

Tenfold, who did not race at 2 and comes into the 2018 Preakness Stakes off three starts, had a scheduled easy four-furlong workout at Churchill Downs on Monday, cruising in 49 2/5 seconds under exercise rider Angel Garcia. 

“I thought he moved well – very athletic horse,” trainer Steve Asmussen said. “He’s doing good.”

After winning his first two starts, Tenfold was fifth in the Arkansas Derby (G1).

“As far as timing-wise, I felt (the Preakness) was good for him,” Asmussen said. “It was dependent on how he worked last week, mainly. He was doing well when he came in here and he put in a really nice work. Hopefully, he’ll move up considerably from the experience of the Arkansas Derby, in that he had two races that went completely his way. I was disappointed with his run in Arkansas, but I think he can move forward from it. Where exactly that puts him with this 3-year-old group is yet to be determined. A very good measuring stick will be Saturday.”

Tenfold is a son of the Asmussen-trained two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, who won the 2007 Preakness Stakes after finishing third in the Derby in his fourth career start. Tenfold, bred by owner Winchell Thoroughbreds, is the first foal to race from the Tapit mare Temptress, an allowance winner also trained by Asmussen.

“He’s a big, tall Ichabod Crane-looking kind of guy,” Asmussen said of Tenfold. “I was fortunate to have had his sire as well as his dam. Both of them were growthy horses that got better with time. Maybe, just emotionally, I really always liked the horse because of that connection, his personality. But I think he has a ton of talent. He’s going to have very good races in his future. I’m just hoping Saturday is what we’re talking about and not a year from now. He’s got a lot of talent, but he is still somewhat young mentally.”

Good Magic First to Arrive

Good Magic, the Kentucky Derby runner-up, became the first horse of the prospective Preakness field to arrive at Pimlico Race Course Monday morning. Traveling in a Sallee Horse van, which left New York at 6 a.m., the Chad Brown-trained Good Magic was unloaded at the Pimlico stakes barn at approximately 10:50 a.m.

Several photographers and a local NBC affiliate television station were on hand for the son of Curlin’s arrival on a cloudy and cool day in Maryland. After making several laps around the shedrow of the Preakness Stakes Barn, Good Magic was led into Stall 26, which is on the same side of the barn where Kentucky Derby winner Justify will be bedded down upon his arrival from Kentucky on Wednesday.

Joining e Five Racing Thoroughbreds and Stonestreet Stables’ Good Magic on his journey from Belmont Park were stablemates, Elysea’s World and Long Haul Bay. The former will run in Saturday’s Stella Artois Gallorette Stakes (G3), while Long Haul Bay is set for a run in Saturday’s Maryland Sprint Stakes (G3). 

Until Brown arrives in Maryland later in the week, his horses will be looked after by traveling assistant, Jose Hernandez.

“He traveled well,” said Hernandez, who accompanied Brown’s Preakness winner Cloud Computing to Pimlico last year.

Good Magic is scheduled to visit the Pimlico racetrack tomorrow morning at a still-to-be-determined time.

Slow Derby Fractions Give Lone Sailor Another Chance

The way the field slowed down in the Derby gives trainer Tom Amoss reason to want another crack at the leaders in the Preakness Stakes with G M B Racing’s Lone Sailor. Each quarter-mile of the Derby was slower than the previous quarter-mile, with Justify’s final half-mile in 53.19 seconds and final quarter-mile in 26.85 en route to a final time of 2:04.20 for 1 1/4 miles, the slowest in the Derby since Super Saver’s 2:04.45, also in the slop.

“I think the story that hasn’t been talked about since the Derby is not only the final time, but how slow the horses came home,” Amoss said. “Look, I’m not making a case against any of the horses that finished in front of me. They are very good horses. My point is this: If you ran in the Derby and had a troubled trip compromise you, it’s hard not to say to yourself, ‘I want to take one more chance at these guys.’”

G M B Racing is the racing operation of Gayle Benson, widow of New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner Tom Benson, whose funeral was the day before Lone Sailor finished second by a neck to Noble Indy in the Louisiana Derby (G2). The Pelicans also made a big run into the NBA playoffs before being eliminated by the mighty Golden State Warriors last week in the Western Conference semifinals.

A New Orleans product and huge fan of Louisiana’s sports teams, Amoss was asked which is the more daunting assignment, the Pelicans having to take on Golden State or Lone Sailor taking on Justify? 

“If you’re asking me to compare Lone Sailor’s Preakness to the Pelicans playing the Golden State Warriors, I’d say there’s a lot you could compare,” Amoss said with a laugh. “Look, it’s the Preakness. It’s a very tough race, and we have not shown that we can beat these kinds of horses. So we have to step up, just like the Pelicans had to step up. And we’re hopeful.

“I’ve got great respect for these horses that we ran against. But it doesn’t mean you can’t ask the question: What about that Derby? I think that’s a legit question, and I’m really surprised it’s not out there more than it is,” he added.