Alicia Wincze Hughes on horse racing

Courtesy of Maryland Jockey Club

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas confirmed Tuesday that Titletown Five will be entered for the Preakness, giving him three starters for the second time in his career. Kentucky Derby runners Oxbow (6th) and Will Take Charge (8th) are also scheduled to compete in the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.

Lukas decided to add Titletown Five to the roster of Preakness candidates after the Tiznow colt worked a half-mile in :47 3/5 Tuesday morning at Churchill Downs. It was the fifth fastest of 35 recorded at the distance. Titletown Five has a record of 1-2-1 from seven starts. In his most recent outing, he was fourth in the Derby Trial.

“We had flirted with the idea of going into the Kentucky Derby and late additions bumped us from that,” Lukas said. “He has been doing so well lately and today just highlighted that. It was a brilliant work and a great gallop out. I just thought that it was a good spot maybe to try him. He’s an exceptional horse He’s very talented with good tactical speed. He’ll make some noise there.”

Lukas saddled Editor’s Note (3^rd), Victory Speech (5^th) and Prince of Thieves (7^th) for the 1996 Preakness. If all three go to the post on May 18, it will extend his Preakness record to 40 competitors, including winners Codex (1980), Tank’s Prospect (1985), Tabasco Cat (1994), Timber Country (1995) and Charismatic (1999).

“I feel comfortable starting this horse,” he said. “I own a piece of him with Paul Hornung and Willie Davis, the all-pro players. They’re excited about him and so am I.”

Lukas said he was securing a rider for Titletown Five.

Itsmyluckyday, who finished 15^th in the Kentucky Derby, was confirmed Tuesday morning as a likely starter in the Preakness. Trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. expressed confidence that the sloppy track at Churchill Downs was the reason for his Gulfstream Park Derby and Holy Bull winner’s subpar showing.

“For a horse to train that well and run that poorly and come out of the race so well, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out,” he said.

Itsmyluckyday has shown his connections nothing but positive signals since the Derby.

“Everything’s going 100 percent,” Plesa said.” He went to the track today, and my assistant trainer (Frankie Perez) and exercise rider (Peter Shelton) gave him a 10-plus on a scale from 1-10.”

The son of Lawyer Ron jogged two miles at Churchill Downs.

“It’s a good thing we went around twice and not once because I might not have gotten him back to the barn, because he was feeling so good,” Shelton said.

Itsmyluckyday was scheduled to leave Churchill Downs at 4 p.m. and is expected to arrive at Monmouth Park at approximately 2 a.m. Wednesday. Plesa said his colt would likely arrive at Pimlico on Monday or Tuesday.

Meanwhile at Belmont Park, trainer Shug McGaughey was pleased with what he saw in Kentucky Derby winner Orb Tuesday morning.

“We walked him under tack. Right now we’re in good shape,” McGaughey said. “He looks the picture, looks bright, happy with himself.”

McGaughey said Orb would return to the racetrack Wednesday morning.

The Bob Baffert-trained Govenor Charlie worked six furlongs at Churchill Downs Tuesday morning. Working in company with Fed Biz, Govenor Charlie was clocked in 1:11 2/5 after posting fractions of :12, :23 4/5, :35 2/5 and :58 3/5 under Ricardo Santana Jr. Stakes winner Fed Biz, who was ridden by Rosie Napravnik, was also clocked in 1:11 2/5.

Also at Churchill, Grade III Illinois Derby winner Departing galloped 1 ½ miles Tuesday morning and is scheduled to tune up for the Preakness with a breeze on Saturday or Sunday. Mylute, fifth-place finisher in the Derby, walked the shedrow and could return to the racetrack on Wednesday morning.

Chad Brown-trained Normandy Invasion, the fourth-place Derby finisher, and  Rudy Rodriguez-trained Vyjack, who finished 18^th in the Derby, remain Preakness possibles.

Street Spice, the fifth-place finisher in the Illinois Derby, is under consideration for a run in the Preakness. Trainer Greg Geier said Tuesday that he will make the decision on whether to try the Preakness after he works the Street Sense colt this weekend.

The Kentucky-bred has a 2-0-1 record in six starts, all at Chicago-area tracks. At odds of 44-1, he finished 5 ½ lengths behind Preakness-bound Departing in the Illinois Derby on April 20 at Hawthorne.

“He had a lot of trouble in the Illinois Derby and got bumped around three or four times,” Geier said. “He was about eight-wide all the way around there.”

Bellarmine, an allowance winner on the Kentucky Derby undercard, has been withdrawn from Preakness consideration by trainer Ken McPeek.

Santa Anita Derby winner Goldencents became the first Preakness horse on the scene, settling in at Pimlico Race Course Tuesday after arriving in the middle of the night from Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

In 2012, trainer Doug O’Neill sent Derby winner I’ll Have Another to Baltimore two days after the race, and the colt won the Preakness. Goldencents didn’t run well in the Derby Saturday, finishing 17th on the sloppy, sealed track, but O’Neill decided to follow the plan that worked so well last year and shipped the colt to Pimlico early to prepare for the Preakness.

Maryland Jockey Club officials approved O’Neill’s request to have his Derby horse and 10 other runners occupy Barn D, the same place I’ll Have Another stayed in 2012.

“The horse is doing fantastic,” said assistant trainer Jack Sisterson. “He ate up everything last night. We just walked him this morning and his energy level is high. He’s bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and we’re happy to see that in him.”

Goldencents flew from Louisville to New York on Monday afternoon and was sent by van to Baltimore. He arrived at 1:30 a.m.

“That was a little later than expected,” Sisterson said. “We got him bedded down straightaway and he got a good night’s rest.”

Goldencents is expected to return to the track for a jog on Thursday, resume galloping on Friday and have a timed workout Monday morning.

Jockey Kevin Krigger is a member of Team O’Neill at Pimlico. The 29-year-old native of St. Croix, has ridden Goldencents in all seven of his starts and will be aboard in the Preakness. He will be the first African-American rider to compete in the Preakness since Wayne Barnett in 1985.

Krigger accepted an invitation to remain with the colt between the first two legs of the Triple Crown. He will exercise Goldencents and other O’Neill-trained runners in Maryland and ride them in the races at Pimlico.

“This horse is our bread and our butter, our best horse,” Krigger said. “The day I was leaving to go back to California on Monday, my agent phoned me and said ‘Doug would like you to stay and get on the horse.’ This is something I’ve always wanted to do, gallop him every day. It wasn’t a hard decision for me to make.”

Krigger said he understands that he could lose some business with trainers who regularly give him mounts in California and is willing to make that gamble.

“If we get it done, I don’t see where that should be a negative impact,” Krigger said. “I’m going to give him my best to get it done. If we get it done, just me staying here and winning it should erase the fact that I stayed.”

Courtesy of Maryland Jockey Club:

Although several other horses that prepped at Fair Grounds ran well in the Kentucky Derby, trainer Al Stall has no regrets about having Departing skip the race to run fresh in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on May 18.

Graduates of the Risen Star and the Louisiana Derby at Stall’s hometown track in New Orleans finished in the five spots behind Orb in the Derby, run over a sloppy sealed track at Churchill Downs.

“With those conditions, I was happy that the horse was sitting back in a nice comfortable stall instead of in a mile-and-a-quarter war on a tough racetrack,” Stall said Monday in his office at Churchill Downs. “I didn’t think about that. We were committed to what we were going to do and we don’t look back.”

Departing, bred and owned by Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, was a Derby candidate, but was taken off the trail when he finished third in the Louisiana Derby. Following that race, Stall and the owners changed their approach and scrapped plans for Kentucky, deciding to focus on the Preakness. Departing was sent to Hawthorne Park on April 20 to run in the Illinois Derby and he cruised to a 3 ¼-length victory from an outside post.

With four wins in five career starts, the War Front gelding heads the list of new shooters headed to Pimlico for the 138th Preakness. Stall said that the Illinois Derby route was good for Departing.

“The timing was perfect,” Stall said. “He’s not that big of a horse. The race was a prep for the Preakness. That’s what Hawthorne designed it as and we’re going to follow it that way.”

Although Departing finished a competitive third in the Louisiana Derby behind Revolutionary and Mylute – who were third and fifth, respectively in the Kentucky Derby – his connections decided to change course.

“The Louisiana Derby was only his fourth race,” Stall said. “He ran well, but we just thought that he was lacking in seasoning. He might have gotten in a little bit of trouble and it looked like the holes were moving a little bit faster than he was.”

Stall said Departing showed talent, but that he won his first three races so easily that he really needed more experience before stepping onto the big stage of the Triple Crown. The Louisiana Derby clearly picked him up quite a bit and he showed a lot of seasoning and a little guts in the Illinois Derby. It’s apples and oranges. The way he trains every day. He’s more into it. He just has more life to him. That last little piece of seasoning he got was the Louisiana Derby.”

Stall plans to gallop Departing at Churchill Down the rest of the week and is planning to give him a breeze over the weekend before shipping to Maryland on Wednesday, May 15. The veteran trainer was impressed with the Shug McGaughey-trained Orb’s performance in the Derby.

“He was the best horse that day,” Stall said. “He seems to be a horse going in the right direction. He’s got all the pedigree in the world, all the connections. He’s strictly the horse to beat. I have no idea whether we can beat him or not. We’re happy with our horse and are going to take a chance.”

The Kentucky Derby winner, who flew from Louisville to New York on Sunday, has settled in nicely at trainer Shug McGaughey’s Belmont Park barn.

“He shipped real well. This morning he walked around here great and ate his lunch right up,” McGaughey said. “He seems to be as bright as can be.”

The media demands for his time commenced yesterday with interviews with CNN, NBC Sports and radio, but McGaughey regards the attention as a small price to pay for adding the Kentucky Derby to his Hall of Fame resume.

“I’m prepared. I’ve read about it and watched other people go through it,” McGaughey said. “I was ready for it to happen to me.”

Orb, who has won five straight races, is expected to train for the Preakness at Belmont before shipping to Pimlico early next week.

A couple of Derby participants, Normandy Invasion (4^th) and Vyjack (18^th) were added Monday to the list of candidates for the Preakness.

Trainer Chad Brown said Monday that Normandy Invasion, who finished fourth in the Derby after leading in the stretch, is a possibility for the Preakness.

“Originally, I threw the Preakness out,” Brown said, “but he’s come out of the race so well that I’m at least going to remain neutral on the topic until I can see the horse go back to the track and get a gauge on his energy level and his soundness.”

Brown said the colt was scheduled to fly from Kentucky to New York on Monday and that a decision on the Preakness would likely be made by this weekend.

Vyjack, who had a wild trip in the Derby and finished 18th, might join the Preakness field, trainer Rudy Rodriguez said Monday morning. Rodriguez said he will take a close look at the Into Mischief gelding when he returns to his barn at Aqueduct on Tuesday. The Derby was a disappointment because Vyjack lost his composure and dragged jockey Garrett Gomez close to a torrid early pace.

“Garrett told me that the horse ran off for the first five or six furlongs and that he just eased him up. He said he had no control of the horse in the beginning,” Rodriguez said. “He said the horse broke well, but he shied away from the crowd and when he took hold of him the horse just took off. He was never able to relax.”

Rodriguez said Vyjack came out of the race in very good physical shape.

Other Derby starters confirmed for the Preakness are Goldencents (17^th) and the D. Wayne Lukas-trained duo of Oxbow (6^th) and Will Take Charge (8^th).

Goldencents, who captured the Grade I Santa Anita Derby prior to his Derby disappointment, is scheduled to fly from Louisville to New York Monday afternoon before vanning to Pimlico Monday night. Goldencents is trained by Doug O’Neill, who saddled I’ll Have Another for victories in last year’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

Oxbow and Will Take Charge are scheduled to walk the shedrow at Churchill Downs tomorrow and Wednesday before likely returning to the track on Thursday.

Itsmyluckyday, who finished 15^th in the Derby, is scheduled to van from Churchill Downs to Monmouth Park Tuesday afternoon. If all goes well in his training at the New Jersey track, the Eddie Plesa Jr.-trained colt is likely to return in the Preakness.

Assistant trainer Frankie Perez, who used to work for trainer Frank Brothers, learned long ago that a disappointing finish in the Derby shouldn’t eliminate a horse from Preakness consideration. Brothers saddled Hansel for a victory in the 1991 Preakness and Belmont Stakes following a 10^th-place finish in the Derby.

“He didn’t run any good in the Derby and he ran back (in the Preakness) and won,” said Perez, who has worked for Plesa for 20 years.

Mylute, who finished fifth in the Derby, remained a possibility for the Preakness, trainer Tom Amoss said.

“No decision has been made about the Preakness,” Amoss said. “He is doing well, has good energy and probably will go back to the track Wednesday and have a very light day.”

Bob Baffert-trained Govenor Charlie, the Sunland Park Derby  winner, and Bellarmine, one of three winners on the Kentucky Derby Day undercard for trainer Ken McPeek are also under consideration for the 1 3/16-mile Preakness.

Fear the Kitten is no longer considered a Preakness contender.

Edited release:

Nehro, the runner-up in the 2011 Kentucky Derby for Zayat Stables, died of colic Saturday morning. The 5-year-old had been in training with Steve Asmussen at Churchill Downs when he was discovered to be noticeably uncomfortable in his stall early Saturday. His condition “spiraled badly” according to Asmussen, and Nehro passed away in route to a nearby clinic.

“I can’t put into words how much respect I have for Nehro. He was loved by everyone around the barn. What a cool horse. Quality animal. Just a horrible, horrible deal,” Asmussen said.

The loss was especially heartbreaking for owner Ahmed Zayat and the Zayat family.

“I am deeply saddened. Nehro was my favorite horse whom I had a deep bond with. Everyone who came in contact with this horse loved him. He cannot be replaced, and I’m devastated,” said Zayat.

Racing manager Justin Zayat said: “I was very sad to get the news from Steve first-thing this morning. We’re extremely heartbroken and stunned. For him to run so great and be second in the Derby, and now for this to happen on Derby Day, it’s just very emotional.”

Purchased for $170,000 as a yearling at Keeneland September, Nehro finished as the runner-up in the Louisiana Derby, Arkansas Derby and Kentucky Derby and he earned $978,381 with a record of 2-4-0 from 12 starts. By Mineshaft out of the Afleet mare The Administrator, Nehro was recently fifth in an allowance race in his seasonal debut at Oaklawn on April 14^th.

LOUISVILLE – As his Hall of Fame trainer tended to media obligations and the staff around him packed up the barn to ship out to New York, Kentucky Derby hero Orb was delivering another winning performance less than 24 hours after his classic triumph.

 
Looking not the least bit taxed after giving his trainer, jockey and owners their first Derby victories, Stuart Janney III and Phipps Stable’s homebred Orb walked the shedrow Sunday morning and held court for several admirers before shipping to Belmont Park where he will prepare for the Preakness Stakes on May 18.

 
The son of Malibu Moon  dutifully accepted mints, treats and bits of hays while posing kindly for children and adults alike wanting a closer look at the colt already being pegged  as a prime Triple Crown candidate.

 
Of the 18 sophomores Orb bested during his 2 1/2 length  Kentucky Derby win Saturday night – his fifth consecutive victory and fourth win in 2013 – only Mylute (5th), Oxbow (6th), Will Take Charge (8th), Itsmyluckyday (15th) and Goldencents (17th) – are considered candidates to challenge the bay colt in the Preakness.

 
On the list of new shooters for the Preakness are Illinois Derby winner Departing, Sunland Derby winner Govenor Charlie, Southwest runner-up Fear the Kitten and allowance winner Bellarmine. Orb, Oxbow, Will Take Charge, Goldencents and Departing are regarded as likely starters with Itsmyluckyday, Mylute, Govenor Charlie, Bellarmine and Fear the Kitten as possible.

 
As trainer Shug McGaughey reflected on Orb’s sweeping triumph in the 1 1/4-miles test and the sustained burst of acceleration that brought it on, the same confidence that radiated from the Lexington native leading up to the Derby bubbled up in discussing his charge’s prospects for the Preakness and beyond.

 
“He continually impresses me with what he does and how he races. I think there is maybe even more there than what we’re getting,” said McGaughey, who saddled his first Derby winner in his more than 30-year career.  “The maturity he showed yesterday with everything he did; to the paddock, to the post-parade to the way he raced was kind of amazing to me.

 
“I’m excited. I don’t really know what I got. I know what I got now, I’ve got the Derby winner but…I’m looking forward to running him two weeks from now.”

 
As one of the most respected members of his profession, McGaughey inspired heartfelt congratulations for practically every trainer on the backstretch. His multiple Grade I winning charge is inspiring a new wave of wariness from his potential challengers.

 
In terms of his tactical ability, the way he finished up in the Derby and his bloodlines, there doesn’t appear to any obvious holes to be exploited in Orb’s form. Should he get through the 1 3/16-miles Preakness in winning fashion, he will be running right out of his stall once the final leg, the 1 1/2-miles Belmont Stakes, rolls around.

 
“He’s got Triple Crown talent written all over him,” said Doug O’Neill, trainer of Goldencents. “I think if you’re going to beat him, Baltimore would be the place. Belmont would be his home and with his style it sure looks like he’ll be ultra tough there.”

 
Having saddled I’ll Have Another to victory in the 2012 Kentucky Derby, O’Neill was seeking to become the first trainer since Bob Baffert (1997-98) to win back-to-back editions of the race.

 
After rating off quick fractions, Santa Anita Derby winner Goldencents faded to 17th. With no other excuse to be found, O’Neill is chalking that effort up to the son of Into Mischief not handling the sloppy track.

 
“We’re still scratching our heads at how the race unfolded,” O’Neill said. “Just didn’t think he enjoyed the kickback and the slop and I think we’re all in agreement that (jockey) Kevin (Krigger) did a great job…once he realized it wasn’t his day took it easy on him.

 
“With the shorter distance (of the Preakness), we would take the approach of come and get us, so I think it would be more to his liking there.”

 
Golden Soul, who put in an outstanding run to finish second at odds of 34-to-1, and third-place finisher Revolutionary both are slated to skip the Preakness and train up to the Belmont.
“The way he galloped out, I wished he’d have had a clear path so he could have shown what he could do,” said Todd Pletcher, trainer of Revolutionary.

 
Golden Soul wasn’t even part of the Derby field until last Monday when several defections came down but trainer Dallas Stewart felt the added distance was what the chestnut colt needed.

 
“We sat down and talked about it and probably the Belmont would be the right thing,” Stewart said. “I watched (the Derby horses) all train and I thought that he was training as good or better than most. There was one that was training as good, and that was the winner.”

 
Revolutionary was one of five entrants Pletcher had in the Derby field in addition to Charming Kitten (9th), Overanalyze (11th), Palace Malice (12th) and Verrazano (14th).

 
None of the five will run back in the Preakness with Overanalyze also being pointed for the Belmont. Verrazano, who suffered first loss in five starts, did emerge with a gash on his left hock.

 
“It isn’t that serious and I don’t think it was the reason for why he ran the way he did, but it was just indicative of what kind of race it was,” Pletcher said. “The ones that win it usually put themselves in a great position to do so. Orb certainly did that yesterday.”

LOUISVILLE – As the 19-horse calvary that made up Kentucky Derby 139 entered the final turn heading toward the Churchill Downs stretch Saturday evening, a cannon crafted by one of Thoroughbred racing’s great architects and housing decades of the most nurtured bloodlines began a thunderous series of explosions.

 
By the time the field straightened out, the  most powerful piece of arsenal Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey and his longtime owners had brought this particular proving ground had knocked out all but a couple remaining targets. A handful of strides later, it became clear one of the few pieces of history which had eluded the connections of the sleek, bay missile was finally going to be captured in spectacular fashion.

 
Nearly thirty years after he first started trying to tackle the mission, McGaughey can wake up in the morning with a Kentucky Derby win on his resume. Over the same sloppy track that took down the horse who was supposed to be McGaughey’s surefire winner 24 years ago, Phipps Stable and Stuart Janney III’s homebred colt Orb rallied down the middle of the track after rating well off swift fractions to win the first leg of the Triple Crown by 2 1/2 lengths before a rain-drenched crowd of 151,616.

 
The sustained run Orb launched under jockey Joel Rosario to come from having three horses beat past the grandstand the first time to emphatic classic winner was as much a victory for patience diligence as it was a showcase of spectacular talent.

 
Since become the private trainer for the Phipps family in 1985 and, a few years after that, Janney’s main conditioner, McGaughey has conditioned some legends of racing – including 1989 beaten Kentucky Derby favorite Easy Goer – but no 3-year-old victors on the first Saturday in May. Though neither the Phippses nor Janney made earning their own first Derby wins a huge focus of their well-bred operations, Lexington-native McGaughey still harbored more than a burning desire to one day get that gold trophy in his possession.

 
In Grade I Florida Derby winner Orb, McGaughey had just his seventh Kentucky Derby starter and only his second entrant since watching his champion Easy Goer fall to Sunday Silence on a muddy track in 1989.

 
What he, the Phippses, and Janney also had was a horse who would ultimately put one of the best partnerships in racing in its most celebrated winner’s circle.

 
“I don’t know what it will be like tomorrow when I pinch myself and figure this all out,” said McGaughey, who hadn’t saddled a Derby starter since Saarland ran 10th in 2002. “It’s a race I’ve always wanted to win. I mean, the Phippes and the Janneys have been my whole life for 20 some years now and have really given me everything I’ve got.

 
“To bring a day like today into all our lives is just huge, it’s a huge thrill for me.”

 
The reason McGaughey has long been trusted with regal bloodlines the Phipps family has cultivated over the years is because he brings horses up “the right way” through careful, unhurried handling,  Ogden Mills “Dinny” Phipps once proclaimed Saturday evening.

 
Exhibit A to that affect is the new unabashed leader of the 3-year-old division.

 
Plagued by some temperamental gate issues as a juvenile, Orb took four tries to break his maiden before finally defeating the likes of Revolutionary – who would end up a brave third in the Kentucky Derby Saturday – at Aqueduct last November 24.

 
When McGaughey brought the bay son of Malibu Moon to Florida for the winter, he braced himself for the fact the speed-favoring Gulfstream Park would work against the colt’s late-kick. Instead, Orb shocked his outwardly cool trainer with his rapid development, winning the Grade II Fountain of Youth Stakes in his first try against stakes company on February 23 and then taking down a heralded field in the Florida Derby by 2 3/4 lengths on March 30.

 
“I’ve seen some things that make me think there is more there,” McGaughey said. “What he was doing in Florida he was doing against a huge bias and. Then to see what I saw today…I think we’ve got our hands on a pretty special horse.”

 
Sent off as the 5-to-1 favorite in a Derby field that included unbeaten Grade I winner Verrazano, Orb was in exceptionally specials hands with Rosario.

 
Fresh off dominating his first full-time Keeneland Spring Meet, Rosario let Orb settle near the rear of the field after breaking from post No. 16 as Palace Malice took over as the pacesetter, carving out fractions of :22.57 and :45.33 with Verrazano sitting just off him down the backstretch.

 
“I know he keeps going and I see he can catch the horses in front really quick,” Rosario said. “I was perfect, where I was.”

 
While Oxbow was coming to Palace Malice up the inside and Normandy Invasion rallying outside around the far turn, Orb was in the midst of a huge, sweeping sustained run that launched him alongside a tiring Verrazano in third at the head of the lane.

 
With Rosario’s left-handed urging, Orb continued to swallow up ground, hitting the wire in 2:02.89 with 34-to-1 longshot Golden Soul also coming from well back to get second.
“We got beat by a great horse,” said Dallas Stewart, trainer of Golden Soul. “But we ran terrific, I’m so proud.”

 
Revolutionary came up for third but his four other stablemates in the race were off the board, most disappointing being Verrazano in 14th.

 
“He just never got the trip we hoped for,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, who saddled Verrazano, Revolutionary, Charming Kitten,Overanalyze, and Palace Malice.

 
Orb, meanwhile, has turned into more than anything his connections could have ever hoped. And with the Preakness Stakes looming in two weeks, they aren’t sure they have even seen everything their charge has to give.

 
“It’s really the culmination or horse racing,” Dinny Phipps said. “It’s absolutely wonderful.”

LOUISVILLE – It wasn’t until last Saturday that Princess of Sylmar fully convinced her connections she was ready to join a Kentucky Oaks field regarded as the best in recent years. And three jumps out of the gate Friday, her prospects for taking down such wildly accomplished rivals were looking decidedly more shaky that her prior status.

 
The way the chestnut filly got over the track in her final major move ultimately told trainer Todd Pletcher he needed to add a fourth Oaks starter to the trio he already had inked in.

 
After getting knocked sideways at the start in the toughest race of her young life, the daughter of Majestic Warrior demonstrated there is even more strength in Pletcher’s numbers than anybody anticipated.

 
Dismissed as the second longest choice in the 10-horse field at odds of 38-to-1, Princess of Sylmar made the 139th edition of the Kentucky Oaks the site of her first graded stakes win when she collared reigning juvenile filly champion Beholder in deep stretch to win the 1 1/8-miles test by half length before a crowd of 113,820 at Churchill Downs.

 
Of the four fillies Pletcher started in the Oaks, Grade I winner Dreaming of Julia and previously unbeaten Unlimited Budget were the clear picks to possibly derail Beholder and a field that also featured another unbeaten in Grade II winner Close Hatches.

 
After what he termed a disappointing first move over the Churchill track, Pletcher contemplated skipping the Oaks with Ed Stanco’s homebred filly and pointing for Pimlico’s Grade II Black-Eyed Susan on May 17. Princess of Sylmar delivered both times in the crunch, first giving her five-time Eclipse Award winning trainer what he was looking for in her final four-furlong move last Saturday – and again in the signature race for 3-year-old fillies.

 
“We talked about passing this…and then we talked about let’s bring her to Churchill and see how she handled the track,” said Pletcher, who saddled his third career Oaks winner. “To be honest her first work over the track, I told Ed this was not what I was hoping for. She didn’t seem comfortable going over it.

 
“The one thing we noticed is it seemed like every horse we were working on the inside just wasn’t performing as well as the horse on the outside. We switched and put her on the outside next time and she was completely different.”

 
Overshadowed as she was, Princess of Sylmar was far from devoid of back class. The chestnut filly broke her maiden second time out by 19 lengths and proceeded to win her next three starts by a combined 19 3/4 lengths.

 
Her first try at graded stakes company saw her finish a well-beaten second to Close Hatches in the Grade II Gazelle at Aqueduct on April 6. Still, there was encouragement to be found in that loss.

 
“When you see a filly run the way she did and overcome some of the obstacles she did in some of those races, and then from the eighth pole to the wire kick clear to win by eight, I said ‘she is better than that’,” Pletcher said.

 
All that preparation about went up in smoke seconds into the Oaks when Rose to Gold in post No. 9 broke inward and knocked into Dreaming of Julia, who then caused a chain reaction that caused Princess of Sylmar’s jockey Mike Smith to briefly lose on his irons as he tried to regain his balance.

 
“It felt like there were three jocks on one horse, that’s how much they squeezed us over,” said Smith, who earned the first Oaks win of his Hall of Fame career. “They were still going quick up front and Princess gathered herself up and was right back into it around the first turn and taking me where I needed to go.”

 
With Beholder prompting her, Midnight Lucky skipped through fractions of :22.84 and :46.79 as Princess of Sylmar settled on the outside in ninth down the backstretch.

 
Beholder, who became fractious while waiting to load and dumped jockey Garrett Gomez behind the gate, gamely advanced to take over the lead coming out of the turn just as Princess of Sylmar was rolling four wide to pick off challengers.

 
The extra energy Beholder expended in her pre-race antics may have cost her in the final strides as Princess of Sylmar angled out and wore her down to stop the teletimer in 1:49.17 over a fast track.

 
“She almost fell down and rolled in the post parade and lost it going to the gate,” Gomez said. “I knew that might jeopardize her performance. She still ran a tremendous race after everything that happened.”

 
Unlimited Budget held for third while race favorite Dreaming of Julia took the worst of the start but still came on to get fourth.

 
Princess of Sylmar, meanwhile, now has Pletcher ripping up his depth chart.

 
“The plan has always been she’d go to Todd and if she’s good she’ll stay there and if not she’ll go back to Pennsylvania and as a Pennsyvlania-bred we could pick up that 20 percent bonus in a claiming races,” owner/breeder Stanco said. “Guess what, that’s not going to happen.”

Trainer Kelly Breen and jockey Joe Bravo made their surprise appearance in the Churchill Downs media center one day earlier than hoped and for reasons neither wanted to experience.
Black Onyx, winner of the Grade III Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park in March, was scratched from Saturday’s Kentucky Derby due to a chip discovered in his left front ankle, Breen said Friday.

 
Breen said the chip was non-displaced and was detected after Black Onyx was found to have some swelling following a routine gallop around the Churchill track in the morning. Breen said the colt was X-rayed around 9:30 a.m and that while the first set of films were inconclusive, the second showed the chip.

 
“He actually looked pretty good training this morning, I just thought he was like anyone else having a bad day,” Breen said. “But the filling after he was done training warranted the X-rays that resulted in the finding.

 
“On a scale of 1 to 5, it’s like a minor limp.”

 
Because notice on Black Onyx’s defection came after the 9 a.m. scratch time, Fear the Kitten – who was on the also-eligible list – had already been scratched.

 
Breen said he had hoped to have a prognosis on whether Black Onyx will require surgery by the end of the day Friday. The son of Rock Hard Ten will stay in Kentucky for the foreseeable future.

 
“He’s not really feeling that bad because he just tried to bite me,” Breen said. “It just couldn’t have been worst timing. I’ve been saying all week how tough it is to get here.”

 
Breen trains Black Onyx for owner Sam Herzberg, who was going to be represented by a Derby starter for the first time. In five career starts, Black Onyx – who was 50-to-1 on the morning – had three wins with the 1 1/8-miles Spiral being his first try against graded stakes company.

 
“To be honest I worked the horse the last two times and I didn’t find a pimple on him,” Bravo said. “He never showed me a sign of anything. Just really sorry for the whole team.”

 
Black Onyx was slated to break from post position No. 1. Churchill Downs stewards decided the first stall in the starting gate will remain open, as opposed to moving everyone in one spot.

Rood and Riddle’s noted equine surgeon Dr. Larry Bramlage was transported to University Hospital in Louisville for observation on Thursday afternoon  after falling from a golf cart while on the Churchill Downs backstretch and hitting his head.

Bramlage, who is slated to be the American Association of Equine Practitioners on-call veterinarian  for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, was briefly knocked unconscious but was reported to be “conscious and alert” according to Churchill Downs officials and Kentucky Horse Racing Commission equine medical director Dr. Mary Scollay.

“From what I understand…he is being taken to the hospital to be check out,” said Scollay, who added that the fall took place in the barn area not far from the 5 1/2 furlong pole.

LOUISVILLE – Twenty four years after he was at the end of the lead shank of the Kentucky Derby favorite, Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey has officially found himself coming full circle.
After weeks of saying he would likely anoint unbeaten Grade I Wood Memorial winner Verrazano the morning-line pick for the first Saturday in May, oddsmaker Mike Battaglia ultimately gave that designation to McGaughey’s protege Orb when post positions for the 139th Kentucky Derby were drawn Wednesday.
Orb, winner of the Grade I Florida Derby and Grade II Fountain of Youth Stakes this season, was deemed the tepid 7-to-2 morning line favorite after drawing post No. 16 in the 20-horse field, a spot that figures to be an auspicious starting point for Phipps Stables and Stuart Janney’s homebred.
Verrazano, who also landed an ideal post when he drew two spots inside Orb in the No. 14 slot, was made the 4-to-1 second choice with Santa Anita Derby winner Goldencents the third choice at 5-to-1.
“It reminds me of (2007 Kentucky Derby with) Street Sense and Curlin,” Battaglia said of his wavering on which horse would get his favoritism.
By his own admission, McGaughey was decidedly more on edge when he brought champion and race favorite Easy Goer to the Derby in 1989, only to watch his brilliant colt run second to fellow future Hall of Famer Sunday Silence.
Thanks to Orb – who will be just the second Derby starter his trainer has had since Easy Goer – the 2013 version of McGaughey is almost freakishly at ease, taking all the fuss in relaxed stride as the prospect of him saddling what would be his first Kentucky Derby hero edges closer.
“Oh I’m happy. I’m happy with everything,” McGaughey said. “I heard a little rumor that Mike (Battaglia) was a little confused about who (the favorite) was. I think it’s because the way (Orb) has things done here that he went on and made him the favorite.
“Where we stand now, we have a good post, the horse is doing well, we’re the morning line favorite. What more could I ask for on Wednesday afternoon?”
More than half of the post positions had been drawn without either Orb’s or Verrazano’s name being called, leading to some tense moments as the dread No. 1 post was still up for grabs.
That unfortunate inside starting point ended up going to Grade III Spiral Stakes winner Black Onyx. Both McGaughey and Todd Pletcher, trainer of Verrazano, meanwhile couldn’t have offered more praise for where their colts ended up after their connections sweated it out.
“We’ll just kind of hold our position and creep in a little bit around the first turn and (jockey Joel Rosario) can  watch what is going on inside of him,” McGaughey said. “He can judge what (jockey John Velazquez) will do on Verrazano.
Added Pletcher, who will saddle five starters in this year’s classic, “We hadn’t gotten a spot for Verrazano and with some tough posts – the one and the two – still out there, I was concerned. But then he drew the 14 and it was a sigh of relief.
“As far as Orb being the favorite over Verrazano, that’s not an issue. He (Orb) deserves to be the favorite.”
On paper, none of the major Derby contenders ended up hindered as a result of their starting position. Goldencents and his early speed are in the sweet spot in post No. 8 while Louisiana Derby winner Revolutionary landed in post No. 3, something that shouldn’t be much issue for his Hall of Fame, rail-skimming jockey Calvin Borel.
“I love it. (Jockey) Kevin (Krigger) doesn’t have to sit in the gate; then he can pick his spot,” said Goldencents’s trainer Doug O’Neill, who won last year’s Derby with I’ll Have Another. “We’re going to bring it back home.”
Holy Bull Stakes winner Itsmyluckyday also got an ideal post in No. 12 while Gotham Stakes winner Vyjack will have to make his run from the outside post No. 20.
Vyjack is trained by Rudy Rodriguez, a former assistant to trainer Rick Dutrow. For those who like omens, Dutrow was the last to win the Kentucky Derby from post No. 20 when he saddled Big Brown to that win in 2008.
That Orb has gone from taking four tries to break his maiden to becoming the sophomore to beat is one McGaughey is still trying to digest. This time, at least, he’s have fun doing it.
“I think I am more relaxed (than in 1989),” he said. “There was a lot of focus on (Easy Goer) and all this has come up with Orb pretty quickly. I haven’t had to worry about it all winter. I’ve got to really enjoy it and let the horse kind of talk for us.”

Post Position Horse Jockey
Mike Battaglia’s
Morning Line Odds
1. Black Onyx Joe Bravo 50-1
2. Oxbow Gary Stevens 30-1
3. Revolutionary Calvin Borel 10-1
4. Golden Soul Robby Albarado 50-1
5. Normandy Invasion Javier Castellano 12-1
6. Mylute Rosie Napravnik 15-1
7. Giant Finish Jose Espinoza 50-1
8. Goldencents Kevin Krigger 5-1
9. Overanalyze Rafael Bejarano 15-1
10. Palace Malice Mike Smith 20-1
11. Lines of Battle Ryan Moore 30-1
12. Itsmyluckyday Elvis Trujillo 15-1
13. Falling Sky Luis Saez 50-1
14. Verrazano John Velazquez 4-1
15. Charming Kitten Edgar Prado 20-1
16. Orb Joel Rosario 7-2
17. Will Take Charge Jon Court 20-1
18. Frac Daddy Victor Lebron 50-1
19. Java’s War Julien Leparoux 15-1
20. Vyjack Garrett Gomez 15-1
AE-21. Fear the Kitten Alan Garcia 50-1