Trainer John Ennis wants to run Great White in the 151st Preakness Stakes (G1) – but only if his energy level remains high. In his mind, there’s no better way to determine that than to get on the massive gray gelding himself in Saturday’s scheduled easy half-mile work at The Thoroughbred Center in Lexington, Ky.
Great White – who got into the Kentucky Derby (G1) field three days out with the scratch of Arkansas Derby (G1) runner-up Silent Tactic – reared up and flipped over behind the starting gate as the horses were loading for the race. He himself became a late scratch.
Ennis said the gelding came out of the incident unscathed, but the trainer wants to be certain that Great White is at his best before making the trek to Maryland.
“I want to feel him myself. I might just ride him myself,” the trainer said by phone. “If I’m happy with him, I’ll enter. He has to be fresh. If he’s not fresh and rearing up and feeling good, he can’t go. He has to be feeling good to go to the Preakness, like he was all week at Churchill. He was fresh and feeling good about himself.”
Alex Achard, aboard for all four of the gelding’s races, has the Preakness mount.
Since shipping back to Ennis’ base the day after the Derby, Great White has not missed a day of training. He said an equine chiropractor went over the dark gray horse Wednesday “and couldn’t find anything wrong with him. He’s not changed one bit since Derby week. The horse is fit. He actually looks stronger this week than he did going into Derby week. He just looks physically better.”
Ennis said Derby week that Great White was doing better than he was heading into Keeneland’s April 4 Blue Grass (G1), in which he was fifth in his first start on dirt. The gelding’s first three races came on the synthetic at Turfway Park, capped by winning the John Battaglia Memorial.
“When he works fast, he puts a lot into it for a big horse,” said Ennis, who owns Great White with breeder Three Chimneys Farm. “We worked him too fast before the Blue Grass [a half-mile in 47.60 seconds], and it kind of took the edge off him. You need the edge on him every race for him to run his best [and] have that rearing-up in him, that playing around.”
Ennis said what happened behind the Derby starting gate was nobody’s fault, that it was simply the result of Great White feeling full of himself.
“It wasn’t meant to be,” he said. “Yes, it’s the Derby. Hopefully, I’ll be there again sometime. It was a learning curve. It was just unfortunate it happened in the Derby. Am I disappointed now or am I frustrated? Absolutely not.”
This story was originally published by Paulick Report on May 7, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Paulick Report as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
