Updated: Large Preakness Stakes 2019 field taking shape
About four and possibly more horses that ran on Kentucky Derby day will join an already strong cast of contenders lining up for the May 18 Preakness Stakes.
Country House, placed atop the running order following Maximum Security’s disqualification, is possible, said trainer Bill Mott, who in the wake of controversial post-race events hadn’t yet spoken with owners about the second leg of the Triple Crown series.
Code of Honor, the Derby runner-up, will travel back to trainer Shug McGaughey’s base. He is also possible for the Preakness after heading Maximum Security at the top of the Churchill Downs stretch, then coming up 2 /12 lengths short riding the rail.
"I’ll have to talk to (owner) Mr. (Will) Farish,” McGaughey said of the Preakness. “He’ll go back to New York this afternoon and we’ll go from there. I would definitely like to have a fresh horse for Saratoga and finish the year up. So we’ll just see.”
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A horse affected by Maximum Security’s drift out near the quarter pole, War of Will, exited the Derby with a “couple little nicks” but was otherwise his usual self having nearly clipped heels, trainer Mark Casse said.
“We just had him out here a few minutes ago,” Casse said Sunday morning. “He was trying to jump on me — bite me.”
Casse said the son of War Front “still wants to prove he’s the best” after shuffled back, then going on to finish seventh.
“For all the people that said he shouldn’t have come down, did War of Will need to fall for them to take hime down?” Casse said. “Because that’s about as close as you’re going to get to it.”
The trainer is hoping for “a fair trip” at Pimlico.
“I’m not going there for revenge. I’m not going there for anything,” he said. “I just would want to go there to try to win. I just think War of Will’s an extremely good horse.”
According to the Maryland Jockey Club, the maiden Bodexpress is under consideration as well. Second to Maximum Security in the Florida Derby (G1), he finished 13th in the Kentucky Derby.
One other horse already mentioned for the Preakness is the Bret Calhoun-trained Mr. Money, winner of the Pat Day Mile (G3) for 3-year-olds on the Derby undercard. The same connections, including Allied Racing and jockey Gabriel Saez, lost their Derby hopes at the gate with By My Standards’ break.
“We’ll just take a step back and see what we want to do,” Calhoun said.
By Goldencents, Mr. Money has won twice, both times at Churchill Downs, and last season finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He missed his intended 2019 debut in the Lecomte (G3) due to a fever and may have just rounded back into form Saturday.
The Preakness could feature one of its largest fields in recent years. Maryland-bred stakes winner Alwaysmining, California-based Anothertwistafate and Laughing Fox, winner of the first Oaklawn Invitational run Saturday, each have free berths.
“I think his fourth in the Arkansas Derby and Country House being third looks a little more significant today than it did yesterday,” said Steve Asmussen, who trains Laughing Fox.
Signalman and Sueno, two horses who just missed qualifying for the Kentucky Derby, are expected to return in the Preakness. Mark Hennig, trainer of Bourbon War, announced Sunday that colt is also probable.
Brad Cox is also training Owendale, winner of Keeneland's Lexington (G3) in his most-recent start, toward the Preakness.
"He didn’t surprise us in the barn, or the rider [Florent Geroux] or anybody who had been dealing with him leading up to the Lexington," Cox said. "The way he was training, we had a lot of confidence in him. If we can get him in that same form, that confidence level going into the Preakness, he’ll be competitive.”
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, a record-tying seven-time winner of the Preakness, told the Maryland Jockey Club on Sunday that he would decide in the next few days whether he will send a horse to run in Maryland’s signature race. Baffert had three Derby starters: Improbable (fourth), Game Winner (fifth) and Roadster (15th).