ALWAYS DREAMING ON PATH TO PREAKNESS
Recovering well, Derby winner to face more-rested competition in Baltimore
Trainer Todd Pletcher’s playbook often does not include the Preakness, preferring to take his Kentucky Derby horses back to his home base in New York to prepare for the Belmont Stakes or big races in the summer.
But with Always Dreaming, who won the 143rd Kentucky Derby on Saturday, there wasn’t much doubt about where he was headed next. After Pletcher joked after the race that he wouldn’t have to “twist anybody’s arm” to get the owners’ approval for Baltimore, he made firm plans Sunday to ship the horse to Pimlico Race Course on Tuesday. With all physical indicators pointing toward Always Dreaming bouncing out of the Kentucky Derby in good shape, he will move on as the heavy favorite for the May 20 Preakness, trying to become the fifth horse in the last 10 years to win the first two legs of the Triple Crown.
“He’s outstanding,” Pletcher told reporters Sunday morning. “He ate up really well last night. His energy level is good this morning. He looks super.”
The same could not be said of several other runners in the Kentucky Derby, which turned into a rough-and-tumble race that compromised the chances of Always Dreaming’s main competitors.
After Irish War Cry veered right once the gates opened, causing a chain reaction that forced McCracken to slam into Classic Empire, those three horses all faced an uphill battle to get position around the first turn. The only one who recovered well enough to run a representative race was Classic Empire, who finished fourth and was listed by trainer Mark Casse as a possibility for the Preakness. McCraken is off the Triple Crown trail after suffering a cut on his left hind leg, trainer Ian Wilkes said, and Irish War Cry also was unlikely to go to Baltimore.
Among those who finished behind Always Dreaming, there were no hard commitments for the Preakness, though secondplace finisher Lookin At Lee is a possibility, as are seventh place Gunnevera and Girvin, who encountered serious traffic problems at the start and the far turn before finishing 13th.
There surely will be newcomers waiting for Always Dreaming in Baltimore, including Royal Mo, who was third in the Santa Anita Derby but didn’t have enough points to qualify for the 20-horse Kentucky Derby field (he was 21st in the standings).
Still, it appears the Preakness might come up a bit light on quality this year, boosting the chances that Always Dreaming will head to Belmon Park on June 10 trying to become the 13th Triple Crown winner.
The most recent one, in 2015, was American Pharoah, with whom Always Dreaming shares two key attributes: speed and freshness.
While others in the Derby encountered bad trips, Always Dreaming ’s natural front-running style allowed him to stay out of trouble and dictate the terms of the race, which was key on a sloppy track. It will be much the same in the Preakness, which is contested at a slightly shorter 13⁄ miles and on a track with a 16 speed-favoring reputation. If he comes through there, it will set up a wild scene in New York, as his majority owners, Anthony Bonomo and Vincent Viola, are lifelong buddies who grew up in Brooklyn and joined their stables together last year.
“Growing up as kids, we’ve won a lot of Kentucky Derbies, but never in reality,” Bonomo said. “I think we just knew, when we got together, something special was going to happen.”
Though Always Dreaming isn’t ideally bred to go 11⁄ 2miles, the Belmont Stakes distance he would have to navigate to win the Triple Crown, his relatively light 3-year-old campaign could play to his advantage in a big way.
Like American Pharoah, who had just two prep races under his belt that spring before the Kentucky Derby, Always Dreaming is a lightly raced horse who broke his maiden Jan. 25 and easily won a conditional allowance race March 4 before Pletcher entered him in the Florida Derby.
It was a calculated risk to take that path, as anything short of a win probably would have prevented Always Dreaming from earning enough points to even qualify for the Kentucky Derby.
But the horse validated Pletch- er’s decision, winning in Florida by 5 lengths in a blistering 1 minute, 472⁄ seconds, the fastest ren5 dition of that race since Alydar in 1978.
Now, the fact that Always Dreaming didn’t have a grueling Derby prep schedule should play to his advantage. Always Dreaming also is fit enough that Pletcher said he doesn’t plan on breezing him before the Preakness.
“We were pretty high on him from the very beginning,” Pletcher said. “But he kept showing us over and over again every breeze this winter, every race we ran him, he was special every time.”