No horse can sweep the Triple Crown this year, but jockey Jose Ortiz still can.
Ortiz earned his first Kentucky Derby (G1) victory May 2 on Golden Tempo, who is awaiting the Belmont Stakes (G1) June 6 at Saratoga. In the meantime, he picked up the mount on the Steve Asmussen-trained Chip Honcho for Saturday’s 151st Preakness Stakes (G1), held at Laurel Park this year while Pimlico Race Course is being rebuilt.
The last – and only second – jockey to win the Derby and Preakness with different horses was Calvin Borel on 50-1 shot Mine That Bird at Churchill Downs and 20-length Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Rachel Alexandra at Pimlico in 2009. One difference from today is that Borel took off his Derby winner to ride his Oaks winner, with Mine That Bird finishing second at Old Hilltop with Mike Smith up. In his attempt to complete the personal sweep, Borel finished third in the Belmont on Mine That Bird.
Willie Simms in 1898 is the only other jockey to win the Derby [Plaudit] and Preakness [Sly Fox] on different horses in the same year.
“Trying to win the Triple Crown on different horses – why not?” Ortiz said recently at Churchill Downs. “I’m going for it. Hopefully I can win it.”
The only prior time Ortiz has ridden Chip Honcho was in a maiden victory last fall at Churchill Downs. Chip Honcho promptly won the Gun Runner at Fair Grounds, but Ortiz was committed to Cherie Devaux-trained Mesquite, who was scratched. Golden Tempo won a maiden special weight on debut on the Gun Runner undercard and subsequently won the Lecomte (G3), with Chip Honcho a good fourth while racing wide.
Then, in his fastest race to date, Chip Honcho was second by a half-length to the well-regarded but now sidelined Paladin in the Risen Star (G2), with Golden Tempo another 5 1/2 lengths back in third. Both ran back in the Louisiana Derby (G2) at the Preakness distance of 1 3/16 miles, with Golden Tempo third and Chip Honcho fifth.
“I think Chip Honcho has a very good chance to win the Preakness,” Ortiz said. “He’s a nice horse. I broke his maiden. He had a very good winter at the Fair Grounds, other than the last race. But he’s a really nice horse and has a really good shot in the Preakness.”
Ortiz already has a career Triple Crown sweep, having won the 2017 Belmont with Tapwrit and the 2022 Preakness with Early Voting, when he coincidentally defeated the Asmussen-trained favorite Epicenter.
“It’s a great opportunity to be in the race, to be on a live horse like Chip Honcho,” Ortiz said. “Obviously, you take Pimlico out of the equation. It used to be a very speedy track. I think Laurel is probably going to be a more level playing field. Hopefully, they redo Pimlico, and we can go back there. I really enjoyed my time there.
“The Preakness is an amazing race to win. When I won it, it was unreal. I was very happy I could do it,” he added. “And I’m very happy I could get my own Triple Crown, you know, in different years. But it still feels good.”
Chip Honcho had a routine gallop on Wednesday at Laurel under exercise rider Brooke Stillion.
IRON HONOR – The 9-2 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s 151st running of the Preakness Stakes (G1) at Laurel Park is in town.
Iron Honor arrived at Laurel Park Tuesday afternoon with Jose Hernandez, the assistant to trainer Chad Brown, overseeing the colt getting acclimated to his surroundings at the Preakness Stakes Barn.
“It all went very well,” said Hernandez, adding that the van carrying Iron Honor arrived at Laurel at 3 p.m. Tuesday. “He is healthy and happy.”
Iron Honor went to the track at Laurel for the first time Wednesday morning. With regular exercise rider Kelvin Perez on board, Iron Honor emerged from the Preakness Stakes Barn just after 7:30 a.m. and galloped 1 ¼ miles. He is expected to repeat the same exercise Thursday, according to Hernandez.
Hernandez has been through the Preakness routine several times during his career working for Brown. He was in Baltimore in 2017 when Cloud Computing won the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown and again in 2022 when Early Voting was the Preakness winner.
“He has been training really well in New York and before that in Florida,” Hernandez said of Iron Honor. “He looked good on the track today. We will see how he does. So far, everything is in good shape.”
Iron Honor won his first two starts, a maiden Dec. 13 and the Gotham Stakes (G3) Feb. 26. In his last start, the Wood Memorial (G2) April 4, he finished a disappointing seventh after encountering trouble on the first turn as the 5-2 favorite.
All of his races were run at Aqueduct.
For the Preakness, Brown, a five-time winner of the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top trainer, will be running Iron Honor without blinkers. He was equipped with them for his first three starts.
Iron Honor will be ridden in the Preakness by Flavien Prat for the first time.
Vincent and Teresa Viola’s St. Elias Stable and William H. Lawrence co-own Iron Honor, who is a son of Nyquist. Brown said he might not arrive at Laurel until Saturday as he has plenty of horses to train at his base in Saratoga Springs, N.Y..
TAJ MAHAL – It’s easy now to see the talent that has helped Taj Mahal go undefeated with two stakes wins from three starts leading up to his biggest one yet as one of the main contenders in Saturday’s 151st Preakness Stakes (G1) at Laurel Park.
But that wasn’t the case when the son of 2016 Florida Derby (G1) and Kentucky Derby (G1) winner and Preakness third-place finisher Nyquist showed up at trainer Brittany Russell’s barn as a 2-year-old early last fall.
“He didn’t show us a whole lot right away, but we took our time and he just started to come around,” she said. “Taj did get some time up at Fair Hill. We freshened him up a little bit after he arrived. We never really stopped on him. He was fine, but he just needed a little something different. We sent him up and turned him out a little bit and just tried to reset him.”
The Fair Hill Training Center, about 75 miles northeast of Laurel in Elkton, Md., is a bucolic facility with hills and trails and tracks with three different surfaces where Russell has two barns with about 80 horses. Her main string of 40 is at Laurel, where Taj Mahal has done all of his training and racing.
“I worked him a couple of times, and he was working fine, nothing super eye-catching, but I was like, ‘He’s coming around. We’ll get him to the races,’” Russell said. “He’s probably a maiden special weight here. I felt good about that.
“But I worked him with [older three-time stakes winner and twice G3-placed] Prince of Jericho one morning and he handled him. He really handled him and then I’m like, ‘Hmm,” she added. “I thought, ‘Is Jericho not doing as good? Because Jericho’s form has been a little spotty, too, but I worked him alongside horses and he held his own. He just improved.”
Taj Mahal, whose name translates to ‘crown palace,’ didn’t wind up making his debut until Feb. 6, when he drew off to win a six-furlong maiden special weight sprint by 4 ¼ lengths despite breaking slowly and trailing the field for the first quarter for a mile.
“He maybe hopped just a touch, and I don’t know if they caught him by surprise, but in the mornings going into his debut he was good in the morning,” Russell said. “I never expected him to get away like that. Maybe he needed to do it once to figure it out in the afternoon.”
Taj Mahal has had no such trouble since, coming back with successive front-running victories starting with the one-mile Miracle Wood just 15 days after his unveiling. In that race he was tested up front nearly the entire way and was a determined neck winner over the favorite, Let’s Go Lando.
“I was a little skeptical running him back in two weeks, just because it took some time to get to the races and you kind of want to see if they progress and develop in between. I didn’t have a whole lot of time to do that, but he did well,” Russell said. “I feel like we didn’t set him up to run his best race that day. I feel like he did that on talent and, honestly, heart. That just showed how tough and gritty he is. He wanted to do it.”
Taj Mahal was under consideration for the April 4 Wood Memorial (G2) at Aqueduct, but a minor foot issue kept him from making the race. Two days later he was nominated to the Triple Crown at the late, and final, deadline and cashed in with a dominant 8 ¼-length triumph in the Federico Tesio April 18 that earned him an automatic spot in the Preakness.
In the 1 1/8-mile Tesio, his two-turn debut, Taj Mahal had to overcome outermost Post 10 to clear his rivals and get position, then opened up by as many as 10 lengths on the backstretch before jockey Sheldon Russell – Brittany’s husband – gave him a breather. When other horses started to come to him, Taj Mahal responded with another gear and drew off impressively through the lane.
“When he won the Miracle Wood I thought, ‘OK, cool,’” Russell said. “We had thoughts of taking him to New York and he had a little foot issue; that sort of changed things. Luckily, I guess it might have been a blessing in disguise. Everything happens for a reason. The team was really patient and we got him right. When we got him right, I felt like he was really right going into the Tesio.”
First run in 1981, the Tesio has produced just one horse to sweep both the Preakness and its local prep – Maryland-bred Deputed Testamony in 1983. Four other horses have hit the board – Oliver’s Twist was second in 1995 and Broad Brush (1986), Rock Point (1989) and Icabad Crane (2008) all ran third. Last year’s Tesio winner, Pay Billy, was seventh.
“Yeah, he’s the local horse and he’s the Tesio winner, and he won the Tesio in impressive fashion. We wanted to see him beat the local horses like that to give us the confidence to come here,” Russell said. “In years past, the Tesio winner has been fine. They get there and everything. But when you look at the race, it’s a big ask. We’re excited.”
Rather than go out at his usual time shortly after 6 a.m., Taj Mahal galloped with the rest of the Preakness horses at the reserved 7:30 a.m. time slot Wednesday morning, then stood in the starting gate with regular exercise rider Alex Beitia aboard.
“He went out later because the gate’s not open until 7:30,” Russell said. “That’s something we would do anyway. Everything went well. We’re happy.”
INCREDIBOLT – After arriving at Laurel Park at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, the rest of the day was one of rest for Pin Oak Stud’s Incredibolt, who was a last-minute entry into Saturday’s 151st running of the Preakness Stakes (G1).
“He has been doing a lot of sleeping,” said Edwin Rivas, Incredibolt’s groom, who made the nearly 12-hour van ride from Kentucky with the colt.
Once the pair arrived, Rivas walked Incredibolt in the shedrow of the Preakness Stakes Barn on the Laurel Park backstretch before the horse got some nap time.
Incredibolt, who most recently finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby (G1), is trained by 34-year-old Riley Mott. The colt, a son of Bolt d’Oro, has won three of six career starts. This year, he started with a dud in the Holy Bull (G3) at Gulfstream Park, where he finished last, beaten 25 ¼ lengths.
Mott chalked that up to the horse not liking the track surface. He made up for it in his next out, a rousing four-length victory in the Virginia Derby at Colonial on March 15. That led to the solid effort in the Kentucky Derby where Incredibolt and jockey Jaime Torres had a troubled trip in the stretch but kept on and finished just four lengths behind the winner, Golden Tempo.
The idea of having a Triple Crown-worthy horse started a year ago when Incredibolt won the Street Sense (G3) at Churchill Downs in his third start.
“That put the Triple Crown on our radar,” Mott said. “Then, we were questioning ourselves after he ran so bad in the Gulfstream race, and then he redeemed himself in the Virginia Derby. That really reaffirmed what we thought about the horse.”
Mott is scheduled to be at the Preakness Stakes Barn Thursday morning to oversee the final Preakness preparations for Incredibolt.
The colt and Torres – who has ridden Incredibolt in all six of his starts — will start from Post 12 in the Preakness. Incredibolt is one of three horses in the race who are priced at 5-1 on the morning line. The others are Taj Mahal and Chip Honcho.
OCELLI – Third-place Kentucky Derby (G1) finisher Ocelli had a routine gallop Wednesday at Laurel Park, where the son of Connect will return in Saturday’s 151st Preakness Stakes (G1).
Trainer Whit Beckman said stretch-running Ocelli is acting no differently entering the Preakness than he did heading into the Derby at Churchill Downs, where he took the lead briefly in mid-stretch before finishing close behind Golden Tempo and Renegade at 70-1 odds.
“Looks fantastic,” Beckman said. “He trains with the same enthusiasm, the same action, same movement. He’s that kind of horse.”
Tyler Gaffalione has the return mount for the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.
TALKIN – Solid grades were handed out Wednesday morning by trainer Danny Gargan after exercise rider Priscilla Schaefer guided Talkin through his first visit to the track at Laurel Park.
Gargan watched the Good Magic colt co-owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Pine Racing Stables, Legendary Thoroughbreds, Belmar Racing and Breeding, LLC and R. A. Hill Stable gallop on the track where he will compete in Saturday’s 151st Preakness Stakes (G1). Talkin and jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. will start from Post 5 in the full field of 14 entered in the $2 million Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.
Talkin shipped to Laurel from Lexington, Ky., Tuesday. He went out for his introduction to the track at 7:30 a.m.
“He's training really strong right now. He used to be real lazy,” Gargan said. “He launched himself in the bridle, and he looked really good. He skipped over the track good, we thought. She said he felt good on it, felt like he got over it really well. Today's a good day. We just hope every day is a good day until he runs.”
Gargan watched as Schaefer cooled out Talkin inside the large Preakness Stakes Barn.
“He's walking around calm. He's not blowing or nothing,” Gargan said. “He's handling it being in here. He's a laid-back horse in the barn, so he's hanging on the environment really well, because it's kind of a wild environment in the middle here. We’ve got horses everywhere. It's kind of different. They're not used to having all this. So, the environment's a little wild with all the people and horses on both sides.”
Gargan turned to a simple, but key test that horsemen use to judge how their horses are reacting to changes and stress – appetite.
“He ate up good last night,” Gargan said. “That was the only concern with everything here and all the people. But he ate up well and looks great. We’ve just got to take it one day at a time. Every day gets closer.”
NAPOLEON SOLO – Two hours after the other runners entered in Saturday’s $2 million Preakness Stakes (G1) went to the track at Laurel Park for their morning exercise Wednesday, trainer Chad Summers sent his colt, Napoleon Solo out for his routine – er, solo – gallop.
Summers prefers to use a quieter time during training hours to keep his Champagne (G1) winner on his best behavior. With regular exercise rider Emily Ellingwood aboard, Napoleon Solo galloped, then made a visit to the paddock for schooling.
Summers said that Gold Square’s Napoleon Solo, who will be ridden from Post 10 by jockey Paco Lopez in the 151st Preakness, has settled in well in the Preakness Stakes Barn.
“He's taken everything in stride,” Summers said. “I'm proud of him. He's been in Saratoga and run at Aqueduct and went down to Palm Meadows and ran at Gulfstream. He's been to a few different places, and that part of it doesn't really seem to bother him. He's pretty laid back. [Laurel trainer] Mike Trombetta has been nice enough to let us use his round pen, so that takes some of the steam out of him in the morning time.”
Napoleon Solo stamped himself as a 2-year-old to watch with a decisive maiden win at Saratoga and the 6 ½-length triumph in the one-mile Champagne. He has finished fifth in his two starts in 2026, both around two turns, but is priced at 8-1 on the morning line for the Preakness.
“He's matured a lot from 2 to 3,” Summer said. “As a 2-year-old, Emily did a really good job with him, because he was not easy by any stretch the imagination. He would kind of be on his hind legs every morning. He's starting to mature and as he continues to mature, we'll be even happier.”
PRETTY BOY MIAH – After his first Triple Crown series runner Pretty Boy Miah exercised and was safely back in his stall Wednesday morning at Laurel Park, trainer Jeremiah Englehart headed to his hotel to sleep until feed time in mid-afternoon. Some rest was overdue.
Englehart had followed form Tuesday, balancing his family and professional responsibilities. When his day-long duties with his business based in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. were finished, Englehart attended his daughters’ high school lacrosse games. He said that his older daughter Raelyn’s Schuylerville varsity team defeated South Glens Falls and that Anna and her junior varsity teammates lost to Averill Park.
A few hours later, at 12:30 a.m., Engelhart started his long drive south from upstate New York to Maryland and arrived about 40 minutes before the 7:30 a.m. scheduled training time for reserved Preakness Stakes (G1) entrants.
Pretty Boy Miah drew the outside post in the full field of 14 for the Preakness Monday evening and was shipped from Saratoga Springs during the day Tuesday. After he galloped on the track Wednesday morning, Englehart stepped in and helped the groom cool out the gelding.
Englehart said Pretty Boy Miah appeared to be handling the ship and adjusting to the new venue well.
“He did everything great today,” Englehart said. “He's very athletic. He's not a big, robust horse, but he gets over the ground very easily. Hopefully, he takes to the track.”
In his first run in a graded-stakes, Pretty Boy Miah faces the additional challenge of starting from the far outside. The son of Beau Liam has shown plenty of speed in his four-race career and will be asked by jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. to use it early in the 1 3/16-mile Preakness.
“We're going to be aggressive leaving there,” Englehart said. “I imagine I'll talk to Ricardo a little bit more as we get closer and see how the race goes. But, given our post, I think it would be beneficial for us to let him go early on.”
Englehart and his wife, Robin, have five children and it is a priority to attend their many school activities and sporting events.
“My parents always did a really good job of making sure that they were present for me,” he said. “So I always wanted to make sure that I did the same for my kids. I find that busy is good for me. It keeps me on point.”
CORONA DE ORO – With Dallas Stewart as the colt’s trainer, bettors ought not ignore Corona de Oro at 30-1 on the morning line for Saturday’s 151st Preakness Stakes (G1) at Laurel Park.
Stewart, a former assistant to late Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas who has saddled more than 1,000 winners, has twice before hit the board with Preakness longshots.
In 2008, Stewart’s Macho Again ran second to Big Brown at odds of 39-1. And in 2015, his Tale of Verve completed the exacta with eventual Triple Crown winner American Pharoah at 30-1 odds.
“I don’t gamble, so talk to the gamblers,” Stewart said with a shrug.
The Preakness isn’t the only Triple Crown race in which the 66-year-old trainer has left a mark with big-payoff horses.
Golden Soul ran second in the 2013 Kentucky Derby (G1) at odds of 34-1 and his Commanding Curve was runner-up in the 2014 Derby at 37-1.
Despite all the near misses, Stewart will be seeking his first victory in a Triple Crown race with Corona de Oro, who enters the Preakness off a third-place finish in the Lexington (G3) April 11 at Keeneland. The colt was on the also-eligible list for the May 2 Derby but failed to make the field.
“You’re not going to win them if you don’t keep trying,” said Stewart, who owns the colt in partnership with On Our Own Stable LLC, Commonwealth Stable, U Racing Stables LLC, Saints or Sinners, Titletown Racing LLC, Jim Nichols, Edwin S. Barker, Daniel Rivers and John Haines.
Stewart said the colt has turned in two strong works since the Derby and looks primed for a big race in the Preakness. Jockey John Velazquez is scheduled to ride.
“We’re trying to make gains, so this is our next stop,” Stewart said. “He wouldn’t overly surprise me if he won.”
GREAT WHITE – Three Chimneys Farm and trainer John Ennis’ Great White will attempt to become only the eighth gelding to win the Preakness Stakes (G1) in Saturday’s $2 million Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown at Laurel Park.
The last gelding to win the Preakness was Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Funny Cide in 2003, following Prairie Bayou (1993), Holiday (1914), Buskin (1913), Layminster (1910), Don Enrique (1907) and Shirley (1878). Geldings were barred from the Preakness from 1920-1934.
Great White was gelded before he ever ran, not because of any bad temperament or studdish qualities that kept his mind on matters rather than racing. Instead, he was – as his name implies — just so big.
“He was just getting heavy,” Ennis said by phone from Kentucky. “If we kept him a colt, he would have gotten really heavy and thick through his neck. It’s hard to keep those horses super sound when they’re that heavy. That’s the only reason we gelded him. Not because he was a bad horse or acting bad or coltish. No, he was just so big, it was the right thing to do.”
The gunmetal gray Great White arrived at Laurel Park about 4 a.m.Wednesday and spent the morning snoozing. Ennis was to arrive Wednesday, with Great White scheduled to train Thursday with FanDuel TV analyst/reporter Andie Biancone aboard.
If Great White should win the Preakness, there will be no second-guessing the decision to eliminate any future breeding career. That’s because Three Chimneys stands his sire, Volatile, and owns his dam, the Uncle Mo mare Kelly Bag. The value of both will be greatly enhanced with a Classic win. And as a gelding, Great White could have at least several more years to race and add to those pedigrees.
Great White gets his size from both sides of his family: by big out of big.
“I think it was very smart to geld him, just because he was so big,” said Three Chimneys vice chair Doug Cauthen. “Gelding him kept him light and kept him controllable. He’s become an athletic, shapely horse. He was kind of that raw, gawky kid as a yearling. He’s very tall, but a more athletic horse, which is what Volatile normally does. I think we got a lot of Uncle Mo size and some Unbridled’s Song through Volatile size. Volatile gives you a big horse with leg, but this is far and away the largest Volatile I’ve ever seen.”
Raced by Three Chimneys and trained by Steve Asmussen, Volatile won five of six starts with one second in 2019-2020, capped by Saratoga’s Alfred G. Vanderbilt (G1). He subsequently sustained a hairline fracture while preparing for Belmont Park’s Vosburgh (G1). At stud, Volatile’s first crop included T O Elvis, the Japanese-based horse that won the Churchill Downs (G1) on the Kentucky Derby undercard.
Kelly Bag went 0-for-4 on the track. However, her mom was Birkin Bag, a G1 winner in her native Brazil, and Birkin Bag’s granddam, Sweet Eternity, was a Horse of the Year in Brazil.
Great White was bred by Brazilian Gonçalo Borges Torrealba’s Stud TNT, while Three Chimneys is owned by Torrealba and his family.
Great White was offered at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton December Digital Selected Sale but, with a top bid of $55,000, fell shy of his reserve.
“John Ennis was one of the people who liked the horse,” Cauthen said. “He liked the horse the most. In a digital sale, sometimes people buy them off the video. But he came and saw the horse. We didn’t sell him at that moment, but we talked about doing a deal together. Later on, we sent the horse to John and did the deal with John where he owned 50 percent.”
Ennis said he liked everything about Great White as a yearling.
“His demeanor, his size, his presence,” he said. “He was a big baby then, but you could kind of see the frame and the power he needed to fill. I loved him. It’s a gamble when you take a horse like that because they’re either going to be really good or no good, being that big. Lucky for me, he’s really good.”
Sizing up the field, Ennis said, “Look, without being overconfident, I’m not really scared of anyone.”
Great White is 15-1 in the morning line for the capacity field of 14 3-year-olds. He has two wins in four starts including the Leonatus over Turfway Park’s synthetic surface, earning $202,495 in purses. In his first start on true dirt, he was a well-beaten fifth in the Blue Grass (G1) at Keeneland after finding himself on the early lead.
“I think he has a chance to hit the board,” Cauthen said. “You always dream of winning, but he’s got to improve. He’s got to run with a target. He proved [in the Blue Grass] that he doesn’t love the lead, and he’s got to ‘stay’ [the distance]. But nobody thought Ocelli [third at 70-1 odds] had a big shot in the Derby except maybe the trainer and the team. You’ve got to believe, because nobody else is believing. John’s had confidence in the horse, and Gonçalo agreed to give him the freedom to try it out.”
The Great White team went through the gamut of emotions Derby Week, from the excitement of drawing into the field off the also-eligible list to being a very late scratch when the gelding reared and flipped behind the starting gate while waiting to be loaded.
“It’s just one of those things,” Cauthen said. “The main thing is the safety of the horse. Obviously, they did the right thing scratching him, even though he was fine. But you don’t really know that until you check him out further. He won’t be hooked up to the pony this time. He’s a pretty good boy but he’s got a lot energy, and he rears. He’s done it before. It was an unfortunate circumstance. But, hey, maybe it was meant to be, so he could come fresh to the Preakness.”
CRUPPER – Because nothing is in a vacuum, it’s hard to say what sparked Preakness Stakes (G1) contender Crupper’s improvement during his past three races: Trainer Donnie Von Hemel adding blinkers? Running closer to the pace? Or – coinciding with a 12-point improvement in the Beyer speed figures since his previous best – picking up jockey Junior Alvarardo for Oaklawn Park’s April 18 Bathhouse Row? Maybe just maturity?
Regardless, Crupper looked like a different horse in his front-running victory in the 1 1/8-mile Bathhouse Row, for which he earned a lifetime best 80 Beyer speed figure, topping his previous high of 68 two races prior. Crupper’s stakes debut marked his second win in three starts, beginning with a maiden victory in his first start with blinkers that was followed by a decent third in an allowance race.
“I think it made him just a little more focused, instead of worrying about some of the other stuff going on,” Von Hemel said of the blinkers. “We just have a French cup on him; it’s not much blinker, but sometimes little changes like that help you out. I think he just moved forward as a horse.”
Von Hemel acknowledges that, to win the Preakness, Crupper most likely will have to make a move forward similar to his stakes victory. “And then, I think we’re competitive,” he said.
The Kentucky-based trainer does believe certain horses can be impacted by the “bounce” theory – where they show a regression following a really big effort.
“I think there are horses that bounce,” Von Hemel said. “I don’t think all horses bounce. I think it’s more an individual thing.” He added with a laugh, “I’m hoping we’re just on an upward trend.”
Crupper had a walk day Wednesday after arriving at Laurel Park at 4 a.m. from Louisville, Ky.
THE HELL WE DID – Each time he climbs aboard The Hell We Did for his daily exercise, Oscar Rojero comes away more impressed than he did the day before.
That was the case again on Wednesday after The Hell We Did galloped over the Laurel Park track just after 7:30 a.m. Runner-up in the Lexington(G3) in his last start, The Hell We Did is 15-1 on the morning line for Saturday’s Preakness Stakes (G1).
“What can I say about the horse? He amazes me every time I take him,” said Rojero, trainer Todd Fincher’s assistant, said. “When I think he has already given me his best gallop, the next day he amazes me and shows me he can do better than the day before.”
Rojero has served as Fincher’s assistant for 26 years. He has been in Maryland with The Hell We Did ever since the son of Authentic shipped in April 28.
“This horse is just so smart,” Rojero said. “I told my boss that he probably didn’t need to bring me to Maryland because the horse does everything by himself, He always knows his routine. Whenever I ask him to go, he’ll go. Whatever I ask him to do, he’ll do. He doesn’t refuse to do anything.”
Wednesday, The Hell We Did, owned and bred by Peacock Family Racing Stables LLC, galloped 1 ¾ miles. Rojero said more of the same is scheduled for Thursday.
The Hell We Did has started four times in his career and has two wins and two seconds. The Lexington was his first try in a graded-stakes race.
Jockey Luis Saez, who rode The Hell We Did in the Lexington for the first time, will be on board for the Preakness. They will start from post position seven.
BULL BY THE HORNS – Peachtree Stable and Mark Corrado’s Bull by the Horns visited the Laurel Park racetrack Wednesday for the 7:30 a.m. training session reserved for entrants in Saturday’s 151st Preakness Stakes (G1) and Friday’s 102nd George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan (G2).
The Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained gray son of Essential Quality galloped once around the Laurel oval under exercise rider Luis Hernandez in preparation for a start in the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.
“He looked around a little bit, which is to be expected, but he looked confident and happy,” assistant trainer Rasharn Rochester said. “I’m happy with the way he looked.”
Joseph, who saddled Bull by the Horns for a late-rallying victory in the 1 1/16-mile Rushaway over Turfway Park’s all-weather surface last time out, is expected to be on hand during training hours Thursday morning.
Bull by the Horns will be ridden by Micah Husbands.
ROBUSTA – One of the longest prices on the morning line for Saturday’s 151st running of the Preakness Stakes (G1) got into town late Tuesday night. Wednesday morning, Robusta wasn’t wasting any time.
At 7:45 a.m., he was on the track at Laurel Park with the most of the other Preakness horses for morning exercise.
Owned and bred by Calumet Farm, Robusta galloped 1 ¼ miles.
“He was ready to go,” said Sabas Rivera, assistant to trainer Doug O’Neill. “He is acting like a horse with a lot of energy. He is doing good, looking good, eating good. We will see what happens [Saturday].”
Robusta took a 10-hour van ride from Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., where he had been training since finishing 14th in the Kentucky Derby (G1) May 2. He was 70.01-1 in the Derby, sent to the gate as the second longest odds for the Run for the Roses.
Robusta was assigned 30-1 odds on the morning line for the Preakness..
While Robusta was taking a van ride, Rivera flew to Maryland from California, where he met the horse.
“I am probably more tired than he is,” Rivera said with a laugh.
Robusta has just one win in six career starts, a maiden score Jan. 9. The Preakness will be his sixth start this year.
Rivera said Robusta will either gallop or jog at Laurel on Thursday morning.
Robusta will start from Post 4 and will be ridden by Rafael Bejarano Saturday.
This story was originally published by Paulick Report on May 13, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Paulick Report as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
