Horse Racing’s 2012 Triple Crown series continues this Saturday where Kentucky Derby runner-up, the fleet Bodemeister, has drawn post position #7 and has been installed as the 8/5 morning line favorite for the second leg of the Triple Crown, the 2012 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland.
2012 Kentucky Derby winner I’ll Have Another was made the 5/2 second choice. He breaks from post 9 in the field of 11 where four of the top five finishers in the Derby are in the field. A total of six Derby runners were entered for the Preakness along with five newcomers bringing the total amount of starters to 11.
With only 11 horses entered (14 is the maximum allowed) most trainers were pleased with their respective draws, which was done at Pimlico Wednesday at about 6pm EST.
Bob Baffert, who trains Bodemeister, said: “I think it’s a good post. With him, anything in the middle would have been fine. In the Preakness you just don’t want to be stuck down on the inside, where you have to use your horse a little bit”.
“The Derby winner drew well also. Everybody is in a good post.”
Doug O’Neil, who trains Kentucky Derby I’ll Have Another said: “I like the fact that (being near the outside post in post 9) if Bodemeister is absolutely flying, we don’t have to use our horse, it is more in Bodemeister and Mike Smith’s hands to set the pace. If, for whatever reason, he breaks slow or decides not to go, we’ll take the lead and take it from there. Any time you talk to a rider on a horse that has got some tactical speed, they love being outside the speed horses. Mario (Guitierrez) is going to be really happy when he finds out what we drew.”
“‘I’m confident,” O’Neill added. ”You never know. But as long as we continue to train like our horse is training, we won’t be that far off Bodemeister. If anything, Bodemeister might be behind us early.”
That’s a mistake if you ask me. I’ll Have Another seems to do his best running from off the pace…..why even think about putting him on the lead with speedster like Bodemeister in there? Makes no sense to me…
When asked how he felt about I’ll Have Another, who defeated Bodemeister in the Kentucky Derby, being second choice in the opening betting, O’Neill said “Bob Baffert has won five of these and I have never run a horse here, so I totally respect that, a horse like Bodemeister, if he were to get loose on the lead going slow, he will be very tough to beat. But that won’t happen.”
Barry Irwin, who owns Derby fourth place finisher Went the Day Well said: “When he ran fourth (in the Derby), I was not disappointed, any time your horse puts in a big run, you feel good. I watched the replay and thought he could have run better. But when I watched the overhead blimp shot and saw how he finished, I wanted to throw up because I knew that if he broke cleanly he could have won that race.”
Of Went the Day Well’s chance in the Preakness, Irwin said “the onus is on him (I’ll Have Another) to go after Bodemeister. If both of those things happen and my horse breaks cleanly, hopefully we will be the beneficiary.”
Creative Cause, who finished fifth in the Derby, drew post six. Trainer Mike Harrington said: “At the hundred yard mark (of the Derby) he was third and I thought he was going to run third, But two horses ran past him in the last 100 yards. He was tired the first few days (after Derby) but the last couple of days he has been his old self.”
Of Bodemeister, Harrington added: “He run a good race, but he beat my horse less than three lengths and my horse ran 90 feet, or something like that, further than he did. He will the favorite but that doesn’t mean he’s invincible.”
Actually Mr. Harrington, according to Trakus Data, Creative Cause ran a total of 6,709 feet, while I’ll Have Another ran a total of 6,680 feet…which is a difference of 29 feet….not 90.
Also entered are Tiger Walk (30-1), Teeth of the Dog (15-1), Pretension (30-1), Zetterholm (20-1), Daddy Nose Best (12-1), Optimizer (30-1) and Cozzetti (30-1).
The Preakness field, in post position order with trainer, jockey, and morning line odds:
1. Tiger Walk–Ignacio Cortreas–Kent Desormeaux-30-1
2. Teeth of the Dog–Michael Matz–Joe Bravo-15-1
3. Pretension--Chris Grove–Javier Santiago-30-1
4. Zetterholm–Rick Dutrow–Junior Alvarado–20-1
5. Went the Day Well–Graham Motion–John Velazquez-6-1
6. Creative Cause–Mike Harrington–Joel Rosario-6-1
7. Bodemeister–Bob Baffert–Mike Smith-8-5
8. Daddy Nose Best–Steve Asmussen–Julien Leparoux-12-1
9. I’ll Have Another–Doug O’Neill–Mario Gutierrez-5-2
10. Optimizer–Wayne Lukas–Corey Nakatani-30-1
11. Cozzetti--Dale Romans–Jose Lexcano-30-1