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Preakness 148 Contender Updates

It's been a quiet week on the Triple Crown front as all eight contenders continue to prepare for Saturday's $1.65 million GI Preakness S. at Pimlico. Following is a brief update on each as of Wednesday morning:

GI Kentucky Derby winner and 8-5 Preakness favorite Mage (Good Magic) galloped 1 1/2 miles over the Pimlico surface and playfully reared as he exited the track. “He was showing off. He was showing off a little bit,” said Gustavo Delgado, Jr., the assistant and son of trainer Gustavo Delgado. “He was just feeling good.” He continued: “It was the same routine since we got here. He looked better, had more energy. He wanted to do more. His exercise rider–J.J. Delgado–said he's doing good.”
'TDN Rising Star' and GIII Lexington S. winner First Mission (Street Sense) had an easy gallop. “We had a great morning,” said trainer Brad Cox. “He galloped a little further today than yesterday but was every bit as good as yesterday.” The colt is tabbed at 5-2 on the morning line.
National Treasure (Quality Road) had a “routine gallop,” per Jimmy Barnes, assistant to trainer Bob Baffert.
'TDN Rising Star' and GISW Blazing Sevens (Good Magic) galloped about 1 1/4 miles under exercise rider Peter Levia. “I think he is sitting on a big race,” said Jose Hernandez, assistant to Chad Brown. “I've got the same feeling with this one that I did with the others [winners Cloud Computing, 2017, and Early Voting, 2022]. This is a pretty nice horse to work with.”
Red Route One (Gun Runner) arrived Tuesday afternoon. “He settled in nice, jogged a mile this morning on the track, and seemed to do everything right,” said Darren Fleming, assistant to Steve Asmussen. “Relaxing now.” He will paddock school Thursday.
Perform (Good Magic) visited the Pimlico surface for the first time Wednesday morning. Just after he entered, a loose horse running the wrong direction passed close by. “It didn't really bother him, but he got buzzed pretty good,” said Anthony Hamilton, Shug McGaughey's assistant. “It was right as we got on the track. Obviously, it's not what you want, but [exercise rider] Noemi [Pauquet] did a great job. The horse was as professional as a horse could be in that situation. He is a feel-good horse and that woke him up a little bit. Then he went out and galloped a mile just like we wanted him to.” Perform was supplemented to the Preakness for a fee of $150,000.
Chase the Chaos (Astern {Aus}) arrived from Northern California late Tuesday. “He traveled about 16 hours, but it looks like he handled it good,” said trainer Ed Moger, Jr. “He cleaned up his food and he was pretty happy this morning.”
Local horse Coffeewithchris (Ride On Curlin) vanned to Pimlico from Laurel Park. “He's settled in. He's doing fine,” trainer John Salzman, Jr. said. “He's doing good. He's training perfectly. He's done everything I've asked of him. He's galloping, playing, and kicking, so at this point he's doing as good as he can do. If he goes forward a little bit I'm looking forward to him running a big race.”

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Mage Draws Post Three as 8-5 Preakness Favorite

GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) drew post three in the field of eight set to go in the $1.65-million GI Preakness S., to be held Saturday, May 20, at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. The second jewel of the Triple Crown drew only one starter from the Kentucky Derby, but it was the one who won the Derby and the only one with a chance for a Triple Crown. Mage was installed as the 8-5 favorite.

Gustavo Delgado, Jr., assistant to his father, Mage's trainer Gustavo Delgado, Sr., indicated before the draw that an outside post would be the team's ideal choice. Mage won the 18-horse Derby from post eight after lingering far back early and tipping about seven wide into the lane. Bred by Grandview Equine and owned by OGMA Investments, LLC, Ramiro Restrepo, Sterling Racing LLC, and CMNWLTH, Mage sports a 4-2-1-0 record and comes into the Preakness with earnings of $2,107,200. A $235,000 KEESEP yearling and $290,000 EASMAY 2-year-old, Mage first turned heads with a front-running sprint debut at Gulfstream Jan. 28 and qualified for the Derby by pushing champion Forte (Violence) within a length in the GI Curlin Florida Derby.

Mage will face seven new shooters in the 148th Preakness with Brad Cox's 'TDN Rising Star' First Mission (Street Sense) second choice at 5-2. Cox, whose best finish in the May 6 Derby from his four starters was a fifth with Hit Show (Candy Ride {Arg}), seeks his first Preakness win, but has a Derby to his name after Mandaloun (Into Mischief) was promoted to first in the 2021 edition. He also won the 2021 GI Belmont S. with Essential Quality (Tapit).

Other storylines of note to watch this year in the 1 3/16-mile Classic include Hall of Famer Bob Baffert's first Triple Crown starter–4-1 third choice National Treasure (Quality Road)–since Medina Spirit (Protonico)'s third in 2021. Baffert has a co-leading seven Preakness wins and seeks a record-breaking eighth. In addition, Chad Brown–who won last year with Early Voting (Gun Runner)–and Steve Asmussen both seek their third Preakness win. And finally, sophomore sire Good Magic has three of the starters in the eight-horse field. The Preakness is scheduled for 7:01 p.m. EDT as race 13 Saturday.

The entire field, from the rail out, with trainers, jockey assignments, and early odds is as follows:

#1 National Treasure (Quality Road) (Bob Baffert, John Velazquez, 4-1)

#2 Chase the Chaos (Astern {Aus}) (Ed Moger, Jr., Sheldon Russell, 50-1)

#3 Mage (Good Magic) (Gustavo Delgado, Sr., Javier Castellano, 8-5)

#4 Coffeewithchris (Ride On Curlin) (John Salzman, Jr., Jaime Rodriguez, 20-1)

#5 Red Route One (Gun Runner) (Steve Asmussen, Joel Rosario, 10-1)

#6 Perform (Good Magic) (Shug McGaughey, Feargal Lynch, 15-1)

#7 Blazing Sevens (Good Magic) (Chad Brown, Irad Ortiz, Jr., 6-1)

#8 First Mission (Street Sense) (Brad Cox, Luis Saez, 5-2)

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Preakness Contenders Get Acquainted With Pimlico

GI Kentucky Derby champion Mage (Good Magic) stretched his legs around Pimlico Race Course Monday morning in preparation for a start in Saturday's GI Preakness S.

The Gustavo Delgado-trained 3-year-old, who went to the track shortly after 8:30 a.m., jogged in the company of a pony once around the mile oval before galloping once around under exercise rider J.J. Delgado.

“He looked good, quiet, relaxed,” said Gustavo Delgado, Jr, his father's assistant. “There were only one, two, three horses on the track the same time he was. He was getting to know the track mainly.”

Rodeo Creek Racing LLC's Blazing Sevens (Good Magic) also got his first look at Pimlico Race Course Monday as he jogged once around with exercise rider Peter Leiva aboard.

“Just once around,” said Jose Hernandez, assistant to trainer Chad Brown. “He liked it out there; he was happy. He went out there, stood a little bit, looked around and was back in about 15 minutes. So far, so good,”

Bob Baffert's National Treasure (Quality Road) got a feel for the surface and a look around when he went out for his routine daily exercise at 6 a.m.

“It's our first day to hit the track,” said Jimmy Barnes, Baffert's long-time assistant. “We walked yesterday. Just galloped about a mile and quarter.”

Red Route One (Gun Runner), who earned a fees-paid spot by virtue of his win in Oaklawn's Bath House Row S., will be the sole representative for owner Ron Winchell and trainer Steve Asmussen in Saturday's Preakness S., with stablemate Disarm (Gun Runner) now pointing toward Saratoga's GI Travers S.

“Red Route One is a horse that ran decent in the preps leading up to the Kentucky Derby until the Arkansas Derby,” Asmussen said. “That didn't go his way that day. He rebounded with a nice win in the 'win-and-you're-in' Bath House. He is a horse that will appreciate more ground, (but) we're very concerned about the lack of pace that is obvious in the Preakness.”

At Churchill Downs Monday morning, First Mission (Street Sense) jogged once around the track on his first morning back training after working five-eighths of a mile Saturday in :59.20 in preparation for the Preakness. First Mission and trainer Brad Cox's other horses headed to Baltimore for Preakness Weekend were scheduled to leave Churchill Downs at 9 a.m. Monday.

Perform (Good Magic) continues to perform the way trainer Shug McGaughey wants the 3-year-old colt to as he heads into the Preakness. He had his final breeze Sunday, working a half-mile in :48.09, the second-fastest clocking of 42 works at the distance.

“I thought his work was excellent,” McGaughey said. “I thought it was the best I had ever seen him go. His work last Sunday (five furlongs in 1:00.56) was good, but this one was better.”

Bill Dory and Adam Ference's Preakness candidate Chase the Chaos (Astern {Aus}) came out of his final timed work in good shape, trainer Ed Moger, Jr. said and will ship from Northern California to Baltimore on Tuesday. Chase the Chaos worked five furlongs in 1:00.80 on Friday, walked Saturday and went back to the track Sunday.

“He couldn't be better,” Moger said.

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Blazing Sevens Sharp in Final Pre-Preakness Work

Rodeo Creek Racing's GISW Blazing Sevens (Good Magic) breezed five furlongs over the Belmont main track in his final serious move ahead of the May 20 GI Preakness S. at Pimlico Saturday. Blazing Sevens, who visited the track following the renovation break around 9:00 a.m., worked in company with stakes-winning stablemate Artorius [1:00.18], completing the trip in 1:00.02 over the fast main track.

Blazing Sevens was accompanied by Irad Ortiz, Jr. who also rode the Chad Brown trainee in his latest start, a third-place finish in the Apr. 8 GI Blue Grass at Keeneland.

“It went perfect. He was within himself. He's fit and happy,” said Ortiz, Jr., who will be riding the colt for only the second time next week. “I've never worked him before, but he worked like a nice horse. Nice and easy. I don't move on him. The track is maybe a little fast, but he worked one minute nicely.”

Added trainer Chad Brown, “The horse did super. I was really pleased with the work.”

The colt is expected to ship to Pimlico Sunday morning.

Winner in a sloppy renewal of the GI Champagne at Aqueduct last fall, Blazing Sevens completed his 2-year-old season with a fourth-place effort in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Keeneland. He was a distant eighth in his seasonal debut in Gulfstream's GII Fountain of Youth S. in March.

Targeted for the Preakness, the colt will try to give his trainer a third win in the second jewel of the Triple Crown behind winners Cloud Computing [2017] and Early Voting [2022]. The last trainer to score two straight Preakness wins was Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, who did so with Point Given [2001] and War Emblem [2002].

“It's always been decided on an individual horse basis. With [Cloud Computing and Early Voting] it worked. This horse seemed to fit the category a bit,” Brown said. “This horse has raced a lot more at age two than those other two, so he's been battle tested. When he threw a big clunker in the Fountain of Youth and didn't do any running, it really set me back fitness wise and I was just trying to play catch up at that point getting into the Derby. I have no regrets sitting the Derby out the way it unfolded. I think this is the right decision for this particular horse at this point in time.”

Looking back at the colt's credible Blue Grass finish, Brown added, “He got a bit of a wide trip. I just wanted him to stay out of trouble. He had to circle horses and he really got tired coming around those horses on the turn. For all practical purposes, it was his first start of the year. He did no running at Gulfstream, so he had a right to get a bit tired. That's another reason I didn't want to go back in four weeks to the Derby. As you can see today, he's a horse with a full tank of gas and he's doing as well as he's ever done. I'm just trying to put the horse in the best position to be successful.”

Ortiz Jr. previously finished second in the 2021 Preakness and is hopeful that Blazing Sevens can go one better this season.

“I'm confident with my horse,” Ortiz, Jr. said. “He's pointing to get ready for that race and I think I have a little advantage. He's fresh and pointing straight to that race and can give me 100 percent. The other horses have had to recover. Hopefully, he can get the job done Saturday.”

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