Saturday's GI Preakness S. winner Early Voting (Gun Runner) was back in his stall at Belmont Park by mid-morning Sunday, some 15 hours after scoring a 1 1/4-length victory over favored Epicenter (Not This Time) in Saturday's Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.
Trainer Chad Brown traveled from Baltimore to New York overnight and was at Belmont Sunday to oversee what is typically a busy morning of timed workouts for horses in his stable. During a brief break, Brown said that Early Voting, owned by Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables, came out of the race in good condition, but will not be pointed toward the June 11 GI Belmont S. He added that he was undecided where and when Early Voting would run next, while still savoring his trainee's big day at Pimlico.
“We are thrilled with the victory,” Brown said. “I'm proud of the horse. Proud of my team. It was a super memorable day, especially being on Seth Klarman's birthday in his hometown. Everything lined up. I'm just so appreciative for the day, the performance.”
Brown and Klarman won the Preakness for the second time in five years by using the same formula: skipping the GI Kentucky Derby with a promising, stakes-tested but lightly-raced colt to focus on the Preakness. In 2017, Cloud Computing (Maclean's Music) gave Brown his first victory in a Triple Crown series race. Like Cloud Computing, Early Voting was given a break after finishing second in the Apr. 9 GII Wood Memorial S.at Aqueduct.
“He's only run four times and he's done everything we asked him to do,” Brown said. “He breaks good from the gate. He makes his own trips. He carries his speed a route of ground. He's a fighter in the stretch. He deserves all the credit here. He's been extremely cooperative to work with. He's super intelligent. You train him to do something, and he does it. I couldn't be more proud of this horse. He deserves a lot of accolades.”
Ron Winchell, the owner of Epicenter, who ran second in both the Derby and Preakness, reported that the colt is unlikely to contest the Belmont.
“I would say that's a stretch at the moment,” he said. “He had six weeks between the Louisiana Derby and the Derby, and that did him well. I think there might have been five weeks between the Risen Star and the Louisiana Derby, and that did him well. Just looking at how he came back fresh, that seems to be the recipe at the moment. But at least a Gun Runner won.”
Winchell speculated that Monmouth's GI TVG.com Haskell or Saratoga's GI Travers S. could be the next target, with the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Keeneland in early November a logical objective.
“We'll turn the page and see where we want to go from there,” he said. “But that's probably the long-term goal.”
Scott Blasi, chief assistant trainer to Asmussen, said Sunday morning that Epicenter came out of the Preakness in good order. He said Epicenter and his stablemates at Pimlico would van back to Churchill Downs on Monday morning.
Creative Minister (Creative Cause), who ran third in the Preakness after being supplemented to the race for $150,000, will be pointed toward the Belmont, trainer Kenny McPeek reported Sunday. McPeek said the colt will likely have a couple of half-mile breezes before the third jewel of the Triple Crown, noting that the gray's breeding could make him a contender in the race.
“He's out of a Tapit mare and Tapits love the Belmont,” McPeek said. “That's the plan.”
Creative Minister will stay at Pimlico for a day or two, McPeek said Sunday, before shipping to New York.
Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas was en route back home to Kentucky Sunday with Briland Farms' Secret Oath (Arrogate), the Preakness fourth-place finisher. Lukas said the plan was for the filly to get eight weeks off and then target a series of races against her own sex, including the GI Coaching Club American Oaks July 23 and GI Alabama S. Aug. 20, both at Saratoga, as well as the GI Cotillion S. Sept. 24 at Parx Racing. Her ultimate goal is the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland in November.
Daniel Alonso's Skippylongstocking is under consideration for the Belmont, trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. said Sunday morning. The son of 2016 Preakness winner Exaggerator, who finished fifth in the Preakness, had previously finished third in the Wood Memorial.
“He ran good enough and it might be worth taking a shot at it,” Joseph said. “We won't decide for a week. We'll see how he comes out and see how his energy is and then decide. I think he would get a mile and a half.”
Trainer Antonio Sano reported that Tami Bobo and Tristan De Meric's Simplification (Not Thsi Time) will be turned out in Ocala for rest and relaxation after it was determined that the GII Fountain of Youth S. winner and fourth-place Kentucky Derby finisher had experience exercise-induced pulmonary bleeding during his sixth-place finish in the Preakness.
Other probable starters for the Belmont, according to New York Racing Association notes, include Barber Road (Race Day), Golden Glider (Ghostzapper), Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo), Rich Strike (Keen Ice) and We the People (Constitution), while also listed as possible are Ethereal Road (Quality Road), Nest (Curlin) and Western River (Tapit).
The story is a familiar one. Seth Klarman, Chad Brown and Jose Ortiz teaming up for a win with a lightly-raced colt in the second jewel of the Triple Crown. In 2016, the duo entered the Classic with a fresh horse, and played the spoiler when Cloud Computing (Maclean's Music) upended Classic Empire to take the GI Preakness S. Fast forward to 2022, history repeated itself with the same connections snagging Pimlico's marquee race with Early Voting (Gun Runner). The colt's victory also provided a well-deserved birthday gift for his owner, who grew up three blocks from Pimlico.
“I just wanted to say how happy I am to deliver a Classic victory to one of my best friends, Seth Klarman, on his birthday,” said Brown. “It's really memorable for me.”
Klarman was also cognizant, and appreciative, of the forces propelling him back into the winner's circle on Preakness day.
“Cloud Computing was a once in a lifetime horse and now I have it twice in a lifetime which is really hard to believe it could happen again,” he said. “Only with Chad.”
Armagnac (Quality Road), a front-running winner in his most recent start at Santa Anita, didn't alter the script and went straight to the front as Ortiz opted to ease Early Voting back to second, rather than contending for supremacy, about two lengths behind. Meanwhile, favored Epicenter (Not This Time) broke cleanly but was soon pinched back by the converging duo of Happy Jack (Oxbow) and Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator), costing the favorite valuable ground. Also encountering issues early, Secret Oath (Arrogate) was also affected by the errant Happy Jack, forcing her to take up position at the back of the field going into the first turn. With the frontrunner gifted a soft :24.32 opening quarter, Ortiz opted to keep the 5-1 chance in close contact as they carved out a slightly faster half in :47.44. A motionless Ortiz, who peeked under his shoulder to see who might be coming along, finally nudging the colt into action, taking over from the fading leader turning for home. In control from there, the colt had plenty left in the tank despite drifting outward, and while Epicenter mounted a gallant run up along the inside late, he was unable to get closer than 1 1/4 lengths to the winner at the wire. Creative Minister (Creative Cause), who was supplemented to the race for $150,000, closed to be 2 1/4 lengths back in third. The filly, sent off at 5-1 facing the boys, crossed the wire in fourth.
It was the second win on the afternoon for triumvirate after Technical Analysis (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) won the GIII Gallorette S.
“Yeah, he is a very good horse out of the gate,” explained Ortiz. “He always has been. He broke well, and that was the main thing. Break good and go forward. We knew that Armagnac had speed, and he never has passed a horse on his right, and we knew he was probably going to go into the lead, and he did, but we were ready for it. We executed the plan perfectly.”
“On the back side, it just felt like we had been drilling in the morning. We had been working him just next to a horse, and he was very relaxed. I was very confident passing the 5/8 pole. I knew I was in a good spot. I took a peek back. Nobody was there. I knew my horse was ready.
He added, “I had the trip I wanted. We planned it out, we executed it with perfection, and we came out top.”
Recipe for Success
In front for most of the way, Early Voting came home a 1 1/2-length winner in his Dec. 18 debut before returning to the South Ozone Park oval with a front-running score in the GIII Withers S. going nine furlongs in the mud Feb. 5. Well supported for the Apr. 9 GII Wood Memorial, the bay had to settle for second behind Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo), who got up in the nick of time to catch him at the wire.
“When we've been working the horse We give him a target, and he rates nice. He catches them and finishes them off well,” said Brown, explaining the colt's latest defeat. “I was convinced in the Wood that he was waiting on horses which is why he got beat. He got beat by a good horse, don't get me wrong, with a good trip, but when you are doing this long enough, you can tell a tired horse from a horse that's waiting on horses. And I can see it in his work sometimes as well.”
Explaining the decision to bypass the Kentucky Derby with both of his Preakness winners, Brown explained, “With both horses it's important to know that they were coming out of the Wood, so [we gave] them time. But they're lightly-raced horses. It's not like a horse that we gave time out of the Wood that also had three starts at two and it's their sixth or seventh [lifetime] start. This a lightly-raced horse. In both cases, the Wood was only their third start.”
He continued, “So when you start participating in the Kentucky Derby enough now, you realize what a tough race it is with 20 horses. As the trainer, you have to deal with the aftermath when it doesn't work out. And sometimes, it's not pretty. Those horses need time physically or mentally, and it can really cost a good part of your 3-year-old year if you swing and miss. You could ship all the way over there or draw terrible weather. You name it..I haven't won the [Derby], but we've had a couple of close calls, and I'm a student of it. I feel like you have to have a horse with some experience, and you have to be prepared for a bad post or a bump here or there or a wet track or something.
This horse just didn't have the experience. He is out there on loose leads. He didn't have dirt in his face really. A nice horse, but to throw him in a 20-horse field would not have worked out well for him, I don't believe. It really wasn't that hard of a decision.”
Looking down the road, Brown hopes to have the colt ready to add another Classic later this summer, this time in his neck of the woods.
“[We'll aim for] a race like the [GI] Travers S. [at Saratoga],” said Brown. “I know it's a tick farther, but I don't believe he will have any trouble getting the mile and a quarter. Growing up just 20 minutes from Saratoga, Baltimore native, that was his race today, the Travers would be for me, so that would be really at the top of the list. But there will be some racing before that. We'll get him back to Belmont, assess him, train him a bit, and then start to map out a campaign that, hopefully, leads us to the Midsummer Derby.”
New York, New York
While repeating a Preakness victory for his connections, Early Voting also mirrored the feat accomplished by Cloud Computing in the 2016 renewal of the Classic race. And both colts employed a similar road to victory. While Early Voting took his first two starts, including his initial graded appearance in the Withers, Cloud Computing won his Big A debut, but was runner-up in that season's GIII Gotham S. before finishing third in the Wood. However, despite the subtle differences, both colts sought a Preakness win through the Empire State.
“Cloud Computing was another horse that wintered up [in New York],” he said. “Not only did both of them run in the Wood, but they didn't even go to Florida. It can be done, and I think it just depends on the horse and always just being aware of your environment where you are training these horses, and New York is a good environment.”
Underscoring why remaining in New York over the winter was the right move for his colt, Brown was pragmatic.
“He stayed in New York because he is that kind of make-up,” he said. “He was lightly raced. I didn't want to interrupt his schedule. Sometimes you ship horses down to Florida that are just getting started, and then you have to adjust to ironically the humidity and heat and such when he is just getting going. The weather looked good, so I left him there.”
No 'I' in Team
The relationship between Ortiz and Brown goes far back, and is laden with victory. However, according to Brown, it is the work ethic between professionals that makes the partnership special.
“He rode Zandon [Upstart] in New Orleans [third in the GII Risen Star S. at the Fair Grounds Feb. 19], and he had ridden Early Voting, in the Withers. [They were both scheduled to run on the same day in the [GI Toyota] Blue Grass [S.] and the Wood Memorial [both Apr. 9], I just chose he is going to go ride Early Voting, and I made a change on Zandon [to Flavien Prat]. So I called him to tell him, and he never complained about it. He said, 'Boss, I'll go where you tell me to go.' That's it. He was happy to ride Early Voting. It's hard to be taken off Zandon when they're on the same day because we knew that horse was probably going to go win the Blue Grass and go to the [Kentucky] Derby as one of the favorites. That's how he is. He said, 'I'll go where you tell me to go.'”
Brown continued, “He didn't win the Wood, but it was our feeling that's his horse. He went there for us that day, and I felt that's going to remain his horse. It was never even a thought after the horse got beat to make a change. He went up there and rode him for us, and he rode him brilliantly. Talk about being a team player.”
“I saw the relationship developing with those two. I wasn't sure he was a Derby horse, but I was sure he was a good horse and a Grade I horse. I just know that's a partnership that I want to continue growing, developing that horse, and then I could figure out where I am with Zandon. That's really what it came down to.”
Pedigree Notes: Gun Runner, the runaway leading first-crop sire based at Three Chimneys, continued the same trend in 2022, leading his U.S.-based contemporaries in worldwide earnings. With Early Voting's Classic win at Pimlico Saturday, the colt became the fifth Grade I winner for the Three Chimneys stallion.
His unraced dam–a $1.75-million KEESEP yearling in 2013–is a full-sister to 2017 GII Blue Grass S. winner and MGISP Irap (Tiznow), as well as a half-sister to champion and leading sire Speightstown (Gone West). They all stem from Canadian champion Silken Cat, tracing back to 1950 Broodmare of the Year Hildene (Bubbling Over), Silken Cat's fifth dam. Amour d'Ete has a 2-year-old full-sister to Early Voting, a yearling filly by Constitution, and was bred back to Volatile. Amour d'Ete's pensioned sire, Tiznow, is the broodmare sire of 52 black-type winners, including 2020 Classic winner Tiz the Law (Constitution).
Saturday, Pimlico PREAKNESS S.-GI, $1,650,000, Pimlico, 5-21, 3yo, 1 3/16m, 1:54.54, ft.
1–EARLY VOTING, 126, c, 3, by Gun Runner               1st Dam: Amour d'Ete, by Tiznow               2nd Dam: Silken Cat, by Storm Cat               3rd Dam: Silken Doll, by Chieftain 1ST GRADE I WIN. ($200,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Klaravich
Stables, Inc.; B-Three Chimneys Farm, LLC (KY); T-Chad C.
Brown; J-Jose L. Ortiz. $990,000. Lifetime Record: 4-3-1-0,
$1,311,500. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Epicenter, 126, c, 3, Not This Time–Silent Candy, by Candy
Ride (Arg). ($260,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Winchell
Thoroughbreds LLC; B-Westwind Farms (KY); T-Steven M.
Asmussen. $330,000.
3–Creative Minister, 126, c, 3, Creative Cause–Tamboz, by Tapit. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($180,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Fern Circle
Stables, Back Racing, LLC and Magdalena Racing; B-Dell
Ridge Farm, LLC (KY); T-Kenneth G. McPeek. $181,500.
Margins: 1 1/4, 2 1/4, 2 3/4. Odds: 5.70, 1.20, 10.00.
Also Ran: Secret Oath, Skippylongstocking, Simplification, Armagnac, Happy Jack, Fenwick. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
BALTIMORE, MD–Every year, a new batch of sophomores converges upon Pimlico Race Course. And while the names of the contenders is ever changing, the people behind them are remain fairly consistent. Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas casts a very long shadow in the second jewel in the Triple Crown, having won it on six prior occasions. From his first Preakness victory with Codex in 1980, Lukas has gone on to add wins with Tank's Prospect (1985), Tabasco Cat (1994), Timber Country (1995), Charismatic (1999) and Oxbow (2013).
One more win would put him on even terms with R. Wydham Walden and Bob Baffert, who each hold the record with seven Preakness titles. Coincidentally, Lukas's chance to tie Baffert with a record seventh win comes in the form of Secret Oath, a daughter of the late Arrogate, who was trained by Baffert. A homebred for Briland Farm, the chestnut is out of MSW and MGISP Absinthe Minded (Quiet American), who was also conditioned by Lukas. A winner of two of four starts at two, Secret Oath aired at Oaklawn in her first two starts at three, including the Feb. 26 GIII Honeybee S. before finishing a troubled-trip third in the GI Arkansas Derby Apr. 2.
“We didn't get a smooth trip, which we needed in a race of that caliber,” he said. “We also had some questionable decisions being made as the race unfolded. Those two things in combination probably cost her the race. I thought she was clearly the best horse in the race.”
Sent off at 4-1 in a salty renewal of the May 6 GI Kentucky Oaks that included champion juvenile filly Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) and GISW Nest (Curlin), Secret Oath drew off to win by a definitive two-length margin over Nest, with the champion back in fourth.
Lukas continued, “[The Arkansas Derby] didn't work out very well for us, but we had a five-week window [to the Oaks] and that just came together. Now, we're looking at a two-week window.”
“The Oaks was a tell-tale race for us,” said Lukas. “We never considered the Kentucky Derby when we ran against the colts in Arkansas, but we kind of had the Preakness on the radar.”
Following a similar approach to previous Preakness incursions, Lukas's three-horse contingent of Secret Oath and Ethereal Road (Quality Road) (and the barn pony Riff) arrived from the Churchill Downs base of operations following a 12-hour ride on a luxury equine transport.
However, despite the travel and activity since her arrival in Baltimore, the filly appears to have taken everything in stride.
“She's very professional,” affirmed Lukas. “She's gotten into a rhythm here with all the excitement and the media and it can be very disruptive to a horse, but she has handled that very well.”
“I think she's probably as good or maybe even a bit better than she was going into the Kentucky Oaks. I'd like to see her run the same race as she ran in the Oaks. Pick them off down the back side, be in contention at the top of the stretch and run right by them.”
Looking to stand in Lukas's way Saturday is Winchell Thoroughbreds' Epicenter (Not This Time), trained by Steve Asmussen. Adding an unexpected twist to the Triple Crown plot, the 4-1 Derby favorite was stymied by longshot winner Rick Strike (Keen Ice), who drew in off the also-eligible list following the scratch of Lukas's Ethereal Road on the eve of the race. And while the 11th-hour change up made for added drama and good press, it didn't really work out that well for Asmussen.
However, Asmussen proved philosophical about the Lukas scratch that ultimately dashed his Derby aspirations.
“Wayne is a very special person in racing,” said Asmussen, who is a two-time Preakness winner with Curlin in 2007 and Rachel Alexandra in 2009. “He's beyond iconic. Everything he has accomplished and continues to. It's a lot to go up against. He's inspirational.”
Victorious in last season's Gun Runner S., Epicenter finished runner-up in the Jan. 22 Lecomte S. at the Fair Grounds before bouncing back to score in the Feb. 19 GII Risen Star S. and GII Louisiana Derby Mar. 26.
Despite the last-out defeat, the colt's owner Ron Winchell remains upbeat about the colt's chances in the second jewel of the Triple Crown.
“I don't think the confidence level [in him has] changed, he ran a great race [in the Derby],” he said. “If he shows up and runs, we should be in great shape.”
Asked how he'd like to see things unfold Saturday, Winchell explained, “He's a very versatile horse. I anticipate we'll sit off the pace. I didn't think there is a different strategy. That's the nice thing about bringing a type of horse that has options. And he's got options.”
In contrast, when asked where he wants to see his charge in the race, Asmussen quipped, “In front at the wire. We handled everything else last time, how about we just worry about the wire.”
Representing the X-factor in this season's Preakness is Fern Circle Stables, Black Racing and Magdalena Racing's Creative Minister (Creative Cause). The grey, who was supplemented to the race for $150,000, is trained by Kenny McPeek, who earned his sole Preakness victory with a filly, Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil), in the pandemic-postponed 2020 renewal.
The lightly raced colt was runner-up in his Gulfstream debut going seven panels in March and appeared to appreciate the step up to 1 1/16-miles for his Keeneland graduation Apr. 9. He handled the latest question with aplomb, taking a Churchill optional claimer May 7.
“What is it Wayne Gretzky said? 'You never make a shot you don't take,'” he said. “I've taken a couple of them and hit it, between [2002 Belmont winner] Sarava and Swiss.”
He continued, “Look, that's the fun of the sport. It's great being involved in these kinds of things. If you feel like you've got a legitimate chance to just hit the board, you can't be scared, because a lot happens.”
Also trying to repeat past exploits, trainer Chad Brown tries to add another Preakness title with Klaravich Stables' Early Voting (Gun Runner). The winner of his first two starts at Aqueduct, including an emphatic win in the GIII Withers S., the dark bay was caught late by Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo), finishing a neck back in second in the Apr. 9 GII Wood Memorial S.
In addition to Epicenter, Taylor Made Stallions' Not This Time is also represented by GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. winner Simplification. Third in the Apr. 2 GI Florida Derby, the Antonio Sano trainee finished fourth in the Kentucky Derby.
“In the Florida Derby, he was too close to the pace,” explained Sano. “In the [Kentucky] Derby, I wanted him to relax, but he was too far back.”
John Velazquez takes over riding duties from Jose Ortiz, who sticks with Early Voting.
Calumet Farm's Happy Jack (Oxbow) will try to give his sire the Preakness double. In another connection between competitors, the Calumet stallion won the 2013 edition of the Preakness under the guidance of Lukas. A debut winner at Santa Anita in January, the bay later finished third in GII San Felipe S. and GI Santa Anita Derby before coming home in 14th in the Derby.
“He is fit and he is ready,” said Doug O'Neill, who previously won with I'll Have Another in 2012. “He is an ideal candidate to run back in two weeks. If you have a strong individual, it can be a real easy jump going from the Derby to the Preakness. I think he looks phenomenal. He was bucking and playing and walking the shed row Thursday afternoon and showed good energy on the track [Friday]. He seems like he is the best version of Happy Jack right now.”
Winchell Racing's Epicenter (Not This Time), whose runner-up effort in the GI Kentucky Derby May 7 has earned him a quote of 6-5 morning-line favoritism for Saturday's GI Preakness S., was out for a one-mile gallop around the Pimlico main track Wednesday morning under the watchful eye of Scott Blasi, assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen .
“He's traveling really well. It seems like his energy level is good,” said Blasi, explaining that Asmussen left the track early to watch horses work at Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale at Timonium. “He's bounced out of the Derby with relative ease and made the ship fine. Just trying to get settled in and get our schooling done and run Saturday.”
Blasi indicated that plans call for Epicenter to school in the gate during training hours Thursday morning before paddock schooling during the races in the afternoon.
Early Voting (Gun Runner), who will be looking to give Seth Klarman's Klaravich Stables a second Preakness success, also got his first feel for the surface at Pimlico Wednesday morning (video).
“He galloped a mile and a quarter. I was really happy with him coming home,” said Chad Brown assistant Baldo Hernandez. “He likes it here, so he's in good shape.”
Following his runner-up effort behind Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) in the GII Wood Memorial S. Apr. 9, Early Voting was strongly considered for the Derby, but passed the race and has trained up to the Triple Crown's second jewel.
“He's moved forward from the Wood. He got the time off,” Hernandez said. “He's in good shape.”
Hernandez said that Early Voting will go to the track at the same time Thursday.
