Justify heavily favored
it.”
It didn’t surprise Migliore to see Lukas, sitting atop his 11-year-old pony, Starbuck, riding out to the track with Sporting Chance. That it was around 6 in the morning and Lukas was the first trainer to work out his horses this week is seemingly the norm.
“It doesn’t matter what kind of weather, still rides his pony out every day,” Migliore said. “I’m so impressed with the man.”
So is Baffert, despite his own remarkable record, including being one Triple Crown win away from tying Lukas.
“His work ethic is just second to none,” Baffert said on the teleconference last week. “At his age, he’s positive, he thinks he’s going to win everything. I wish I had that kind of energy. He is still above me. In the quarter horses I couldn’t get to his level; I feel the same in the thoroughbred level.”
Pointing out the number of successful trainers who have worked under Lukas, Migliore said, “He has left his indelible mark on this industry.”
Elliott Walden flashed Bob Baffert a thumbs-up Wednesday afternoon as the announcement came that Justify would start the Preakness from the No. 7 post, just as he had when he won the Kentucky Derby in commanding fashion.
“He likes it,” said Walden, president and CEO of Justify’s co-owner, WinStar Farm. “But with an eight-horse field, I don’t think any post is bad.”
What Walden didn’t say at that moment, but what he and Baffert believe, is that if Justify runs his race Saturday, nothing else will matter. Not the post position, not the other horses in the field and not the sopping-wet forecast.
Pimlico oddsmaker Keith Feustle agreed, listing the Derby champion as a 1-2 favorite in the morning line for the Preakness.
“Ooh, man, talk about pressure,” Baffert said with a slight grin as he heard the odds.
The Hall of Fame trainer’s confidence is well-earned. His previous four Derby champions all won two weeks later in Baltimore. And Justify is coming off a commanding 2½-length victory over a muddy track at Churchill Downs.
He ruled in the rain in Kentucky, and a light drizzle greeted him Wednesday as TNS he stepped off his van from BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport at 3:48 p.m. Baffert walked to meet his fifth Derby winner, but Justify did not exit first.
“This is Sunny!” the trainer crowed as he led a golden pony to the Preakness barn ahead of the horse everyone waited to glimpse.
But the massive chestnut, almost 1,300 pounds of him, was not to be overshadowed once he emerged. “Ooh, he’s big,” several onlookers murmured.
Justify will face a smaller-than-usual field of seven challengers as he tries to win the second leg of the Triple Crown. It’s the same size field American Pharoah beat three years ago, thin in part because Justify scared away many of his rivals.
But not Derby runner-up Good Magic, who will start from the No. 5 post and is listed as a 3-1 second choice in the morning line. His trainer, Chad Brown, won the Preakness last year with Cloud Computing.
“I’m fine with the draw,” said Brown, who won’t arrive in Baltimore until Friday. “We should be close early.”
Bravazo is one of two horses D. Wayne Lukas will saddle for the Preakness. The 20-1 choice will start from the No. 8 post. Lukas’s other horse, Sporting Chance, will start from the No. 3 post and is listed as a 30-1 long shot.