Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
New shooters face tall order
Since the turn of the century, four horses have won the Preakness Stakes as fresh horses after bypassing the Kentucky Derby two weeks prior. In the same span, four horses who were unstarted as juveniles were victorious in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown.
Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen has saddled a Preakness winner from each of those groups – and his representative Saturday fits in both boxes. Tenfold is among four colts in the Preakness field of eight who are new challengers to Kentucky Derby hero Justify, along with Diamond King, Quip, and Sporting Chance.
Tenfold, a homebred for Winchell Thoroughbreds, has made all three of his starts around two turns at Oaklawn Park. He won his Feb. 9 debut and a March 18 allowance race, both at 1 1/16 miles, before finishing fifth in the Arkansas Derby.
“As far as timing-wise, I felt [the Preakness] was good for him,” Asmussen said. “Hopefully, he’ll move up considerably from the experience of the Arkansas Derby, in that he had two races that went completely his way. I was disappointed with his run in Arkansas, but I think he can move forward from it. Where exactly that puts him with this 3-year-old group is yet to be determined.”
When Red Bullet won the 2000 Preakness, he became the first winner of the classic not to have started in the Derby since Deputed Testamony in 1983. But since then, Bernardini (2006), Rachel Alexandra (2009), and Cloud Computing (2017) have done the same. Rachel Alexandra came to the Preakness off her runaway victory in the Kentucky Oaks and had only a day’s extra rest on her foes emerging from that year’s Derby.
There also is no equivalent to the Derby’s now-vanquished “curse of Apollo” to break. Red Bullet was unstarted as a juvenile, as were Bernardini, Curlin (2007), and Cloud Computing.
Asmussen trained both Curlin and Rachel Alexandra. Curlin is the sire of Tenfold. Asmussen also conditioned the colt’s dam, Temptress, for Winchell Thoroughbreds, with whom he has a strong association.
Comparing Curlin and Tenfold, Asmussen said, “Both were growthy horses that got better with time.”
Of Tenfold, Asmussen said: “Maybe, just emotionally, I really always liked the horse because of that connection [to Curlin], his personality. But I think he has a ton of talent. He’s going to have very good races in his future. I’m just hoping Saturday is what we’re talking about and not a year from now. He’s got a lot of talent, but he is still somewhat young mentally.”
While the other three Preakness newcomers did not have the points to make the Kentucky Derby field and thus looked elsewhere, Quip could have been in the starting gate on the first Saturday in May. After Quip won the Tampa Bay Derby and finished second in the Arkansas Derby, trainer Rodolphe Brisset chose to bypass the Kentucky Derby with the colt, specifically to await the Preakness.
“He’s shown all the signs that he is back to his own self,” Brisset said. “The race in Arkansas and the trip was pretty hard on him. We gave him an easy week and a half after the Arkansas Derby.”
Quip was bred by WinStar Farm and is owned by that operation with China Horse Club and SF Racing. WinStar and China Horse Club are among the owners of Justify.
Diamond King earned an automatic berth into the Preakness with a victory in a local prep, the Federico Tesio Stakes on April 21 at Laurel. The colt was purchased as a 2-year-old at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale the week following last year’s Preakness and races for co-owner Chuck Zacney’s Cash Is King Stable and trainer John Servis.
“The story goes that we got this horse at the sale last May, and as soon as I saw him train I never said he’s a Derby horse,” Zacney said. “I always said this is a Preakness horse. I always had my sights set on the Preakness.”
Sporting Chance has not won since taking the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga. He most recently was fourth in the Grade 3 Pat Day Mile on the sloppy Churchill Downs track, about 2 1/2 hours before Justify took the Derby to remain unbeaten.
“Realistically, it’s Justify’s race to lose, just that simple,” trainer D. Wayne Lukas said. “He’s the best horse. Not always the best horse wins in the Kentucky Derby, and this year the best horse won. To go into Baltimore and take him back on is definitely going to be a challenge. I’ll never be afraid, but I’m realistic enough to know he’ll be very difficult to beat. But you can’t mail it in. They run and things happen.”