Preakness Stakes: Mr. Big News 'very fit, very ready'

Photo: Coady Photography

Mr. Big News, third in the Kentucky Derby, was gaining strength going into that race, and he continues to improve ahead of Saturday's Preakness Stakes, trainer Bret Calhoun said Monday.

Part of the reason for that, Calhoun said during a National Thoroughbred Racing Association media teleconference, is that "we've purposely spread his races."

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Before the Derby, the previous race for Giant's Causeway colt was the July 11 Blue Grass Stakes (Grade 2), where he finished sixth, and the race before that was his score in the Oaklawn Stakes on April 11.

"We kind of know what his makeup is and what we thought he was thriving on with a little bit of spacing and looking to continue to grow and mature," Calhoun said. "He’s been a late bloomer, I think that’s helped him a lot in this spacing. And that’s always been part of our process, to get him to this point and how we think he’s continuing to make progress, he’s continuing to mature. But he’s a much more mature horse today than he was six, eight weeks ago."

Calhoun also is encouraged by what he sees in conditioning Mr. Big News.

"He’s always been somewhat of a quiet horse," he said. "He’s not one that’s out there touting you every morning, touting and squealing and playing. He just goes about his business, does everything the right way.

"What I noticed going into the Derby, he was getting stronger and stronger and stronger. His gallops were getting stronger. They weren’t run-off or uncontrolled or nothing, but you could just tell he was getting a lot stronger. And that’s kind of what we’ve seen going in to the Preakness. He bounced out of the Derby very well, he held his weight very well. We’ve … easy breezed him, I feel like he’s very, very fit, very ready. I just keep him fresh and happy. But you can see those same kind of gallops going into the Preakness."

If Mr. Big News, owned by Allied Racing Stable LLC, wins Saturday, it would be the first classic win for the trainer and the stable owner Chester Thomas. The two finished 11th in last year's Kentucky Derby with By My Standards.

"I really never wanted to get involved in the Triple Crown unless I felt like I had a legitimate chance," Calhoun said. "And I think this horse has kind of proved himself in the Derby, and hopefully he’ll run as well if not better in the Preakness."