Grade 2 Pat Day Mile winner Crude Velocity will not be entered in the 1 3/16-mile Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park on May 16, trainer Bob Baffert announced on At The Races with Steve Byk on Friday morning.
“He could probably make the race, but it would be asking a lot for him,” Baffert said on the radio show.
In the Pat Day Mile, Crude Velocity ran in second behind Englishman down the backstretch. Guided by jockey Florent Geroux, they put that foe away in the homestretch and drew away to a 3 ¾-length victory. The final time was 1:33.87.
Stablemates Potente, 12th in the Kentucky Derby, and Cherokee Nation were ruled out of the Preakness earlier this week, according to the Daily Racing Form. Baffert has won the second leg of the Triple Crown on a record eight occasions, and will be without a Preakness starter for the first time since 2022.
Baffert explained on the radio show that he has yet to determine Crude Velocity’s next start, though the seven-furlong G1 Woody Stephens at Saratoga Racecourse on June 6 is being considered.
“We’d like to get a Grade 1 under his belt,” Baffert said.
A first-crop son of Grade 2-placed Beau Liam, Crude Velocity sold for $12,000 at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale before he was sold during the Fasig-Tipton Digital December Sale two months later for just $3,000.
Now campaigned by CSLR Racing Partners, Crude Velocity was purchased for $250,000 from the 2025 OBS June 2-Year-Olds And Horses Of Racing Age Sale.
Crude Velocity was bred in Kentucky by La Ciega. He is out of the unraced Lemon Drop Kid mare Sweetnsour Kitty.
This story was originally published by Paulick Report on May 8, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Paulick Report as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
