Near-record heat awaits at Pimlico
Race entrants will face challenging weather conditions
Epicenter lost the Kentucky Derby because of a hot pace. Now he’ll face hot temperatures in the Preakness.
Two weeks after getting passed by 80-1 long shot Rich Strike just before the finish line at the Derby, Epicenter goes into Saturday’s Preakness as the favorite and clearly the class of the nine-horse field. In a race without Rich Strike and no chance at a Triple Crown, there is still some buzz largely because of filly Secret Oath and that it will be a test of whether Epicenter can beat the heat that could approach a record high.
“You handle what you have control over and put yourself in the best position possible and try to eliminate as many variables that could get in the way of that,” Epicenter trainer Steve Asmussen said. “If it’s actually 95, 96 degrees here, and we know it can be pretty sticky when it gets warm in Baltimore, so I think that all of them are going to have to deal with that.
“He’s a big horse turning back in 14 days, so just make sure he’s drinking
plenty of water and hydrated, just like your kids.”
The National Weather Service is forecasting a high of 94 degrees for Saturday afternoon, with just a slight dip before the 7:01 p.m. post time for the 147th running of the Preakness. The record is 96, set in 1934 when High Quest won the race.
Epicenter is the morning line 6-5 favorite to join that list of Preakness winners after finishing a tough-luck second in the Derby. Even after owner Rick Dawson decided not to run Rich Strike at Pimlico Race Course to take a swing at an unlikely Triple Crown, his upset at Churchill Downs was still the talk of the week.
Kenny Mcpeek, who won the 2020 Preakness with filly Swiss Skydiver, called Epicenter “definitely the horse to beat” and said the favorite would likely need to regress for his grey 10-1 shot Creative Minister to fin
ish first. But he and comajority owner Greg Back felt confident enough to pony up $150,000 to enter him.
“What is it Wayne Gretzky said? You never make a shot you don’t take,” Mcpeek said. “That’s the fun of the sport. … If you feel like you’ve got a legitimate chance to just hit the board, you can’t be scared because a lot happens.”
But the most chatter around the Preakness is about Secret Oath, the winner of the Kentucky Oaks, who 86-year-old Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas is betting can beat the boys.
Absent the Derby winner, the focus is on the filly in what Lukas called an otherwise vanilla race.
“If you don’t have the filly in here, the mood is zilch,” said Lukas, who is going for a record-tying seventh Preakness victory. “The filly made this at least have a little bit of interest.”