Will finds a way
Trainer Casse earns 1st Triple Crown win over crowded field, riderless horse
War of Will denies trainer Bob Baffert his record-tying eighth Preakness win.
BALTIMORE — War of Will bounced back from a bumpy Kentucky Derby to win the 144th Preakness Stakes Saturday, holding off a packed field that included a riderless horse.
Trainer Mark Casse got his first Triple Crown win with War of Will, which had the inside No. 1 post position for the second consecutive race. War of Will was interfered with at the Derby, which led to Maximum Security being disqualified.
“I’m not even calling it redemption,” Casse said. “I didn’t feel like he got his fair shot, and that’s all I wanted — a fair shot. And he showed what he had today.”
Bodexpress threw Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez at the gate but still raced around the Pimlico track. An outrider tried to corral Bodexpress, but the horse raced on.
Technically, Bodexpress gets a did-not-finish.
“He wasn’t behaving,” Velazquez said. “When the doors opened, I was off right from the start and he kind of jumped sideways, and I had my feet out sideways and I lost my balance.”
Under jockey Tyler Gaffalione, War of Will made its move on the final turn to hold off Everfast in second and Owendale in third.
“I’m just very happy for Mark to get his first Classic win,” Gaffalione said. “Very happy for the horse. He deserved it more than anything. He’s so special.”
Gaffalione, 24, rode War of Will for the colt’s sixth consecutive race and came away with the biggest win of his young career.
“It really hasn’t even hit me yet,” the jockey said.
Bob Baffert-trained Improbable was beaten as the favorite for the second consecutive Triple Crown race. Improbable took sixth in the 13-horse field, the biggest at the Preakness since 2011.
It was the first Preakness without the Derby winner since 1996. Go back to 1951 for the previous time the Preakness was run without the Kentucky Derby’s top four.
The race comes at a trying time. After 23 fatalities at Santa Anita Park this year, a filly died Friday after a race at Pimlico. And there is the disqualification of Maximum Security at Churchill Downs, the lawsuit from owners Gary and Mary West plus the suspension to jockey Luis Saez.
And the Stronach Group that owns Pimlico is feuding with local politicians over the Preakness being held at the aging track or Laurel Park, about 30 miles south.
Still, the Maryland Jockey Club reported a record attendance and amount bet this weekend.