Macho Again Challenges Big Brown; Recapturetheglory Has A Fever and Will Miss The 2008 Preakness Stakes

Posted on Sunday, May 11th, 2008

The $1 million Preakness Stakes (Grade I) field swelled to 13 Preakness contenders as Dallas Stewart called Pimlico racing secretary Georganne Hale to say Derby Trial winner Macho Again was headed to the 133rd running of the middle jewel of racing’s Triple Crown to test current Kentucky Derby champion Big Brown. A few hours later the field was reduced to 12 when co-owner Ronnie Lamarque announced Recapturetheglory was out of the running due to a fever.

“We have been looking at the field,” Macho Again’s trainer Dallas Stewart said. “We know Big Brown is there but we feel we can compete with those other horses. Looking at the race I think we have an excellent shot of beating a lot of horses in the race. It is a good field but we feel we fit.”

Macho Again, a son of Macho Uno, had a light half-mile breeze at Churchill Downs this morning stopping the clock in :49.80 seconds. Jockey Julien Leparoux, who was aboard the victory in the Derby Trial two weeks ago, retains the mount.

“The horse has been doing well since the race,” added Stewart. “You got a marquee race. Everybody wants to run in these three Triple Crown races. One horse is not going to scare everybody. If Big Brown does not perform, you have a chance to win the Preakness.”

Recapturetheglory had his Preakness plans derailed by a fever. The son of Cherokee Run finished fifth in last Saturday’s Run For The Roses.

“We took his temperature last night,” assistant trainer Lara Van Deren said this morning from Louisville. “He just wasn’t acting right. He was backing up against the gate in the stall and he never does that. This morning his temperature was over 102.”

At 2:00 p.m. Eastern, Lamarque made it official after blood test results were revealed on the Illinois Derby (Grade II) winner.

“The racehorse comes first,” said co-owner Lamarque, who teamed up with co-owner and trainer Louie Roussel to win the Preakness 20 years ago with Risen Star. “He had a slight temperature plus a slight pulse in his right front toe. For betterment of racing we are electing to give this horse some time and let him regroup. We are sorry we will not be coming to Baltimore but I know it is going to be a great race. We are really going to miss the Preakness experience. We felt we had a live chance to turn the tables on Big Brown.”

With the defection, it appears none of the 19 runners who lost to Big Brown in Louisville last Saturday will compete in the Preakness next Saturday. The last time that occurred was 60 years ago with Citation.

Currently Kentucky Bear is the only Preakness starter on the Pimlico grounds. This morning with trainer Reade Baker watching, the son of Mr. Greely drilled five furlongs in 1:01 over the sloppy Pimlico oval at 8:30 a.m. with jockey Jamie Theriot in the irons. The duo teamed up to finish third in the Blue Grass (Grade I) at Keeneland on April 12.

“I think it was a great work,” said Theriot, who will be aboard next Saturday. “I think he’s at the top of his game. It’s a great opportunity to get the pleasure to ride the kind of horses like this in this kind of races. It’s a dream come true. You go as a little kid and want to ride in the Kentucky Derby, these Triple Crown races and have that opportunity and a great shot of winning them. I think he’s peaking at the right time. I wouldn’t change mounts with anyone.”

It was the third consecutive bullet work for Kentucky Bear since the Blue Grass, who performed five furlongs drills at Churchill Downs and Keeneland the last two Saturday mornings.

“If Big Brown was in any other race other than coming from Kentucky to Preakness all the wise guys would be saying he’s going to bounce,” Baker said. “So, just because we call them the Derby and the Preakness why can’t he bounce? He might be a good enough horse to overcome all that. He’s certainly a good horse.”

Racecar Rhapsody worked five furlongs in 1:01 after the morning renovation break at Churchill Downs under Jose Castanon. The move was the third fastest of 29 at the distance. Jockey Robby Albarado, who has ridden Racecar Rhapsody in all six of his starts, has the call for the Preakness. The son of Tale of the Cat never has been worse than fourth in his career and the most he has been beaten was four lengths in the Lane’s End (Grade II) at Turfway Park on March 22 in his 2008 debut.

“He’s a nice horse, but he’s a horse that comes from behind and needs a clean trip,” McPeek said. “He needs plenty of ground.”

With the sun out and a fast track, Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown galloped for the first time since taking down the first leg of the Triple Crown last Saturday at Churchill Downs. With Michelle Nevin aboard Big Brown and an NBC film crew monitoring every move, the colt went to the track at 8:30, jogged around to the front side and then galloped a little more than a mile. The undefeated colt had jogged the past three mornings, the previous two because of wet track conditions.

“I was looking for what I saw,” Dutrow said.

Big Brown is scheduled to train at Churchill Downs the next four mornings and ship to Pimlico on Wednesday afternoon along with Preakness horses Macho Again, Racecar Rhapsody and Tres Borrachos.

Other confirmed starters for Maryland’s signature race are Behindatthebar, Giant Moon, Hey Byrn, Icabad Crane, Riley Tucker, Stevil and Yankee Bravo.

According to horse trainer Graham Motion, the decision to enter Tesio winner Icabad Crane was made after the son of Jump Start drilled five furlongs at the Fair Hill Training Center Friday morning.

“We were trying to see if he was doing all right and he worked quite satisfactorily,” said Motion, of the 1:02.60 time. “He’s not a flashy work horse but he seems in good form. We said after the Tesio that the Preakness was certainly an option. I think we feel he’s doing well and we’d like to go on with it. He’s three for three on a dirt surface albeit two of them were against New York breds. It’s pretty hard to knock what he’s done.”

Horse trainer Eddie Plesa announced today that he has secured the services of C.C. Lopez to ride Hey Byrn in the Preakness. Lopez was aboard when the son of Put In Back won the Holy Bull Stakes (Grade III) at Gulfstream Park on April 12.

“It looks to me if you take out Big Brown than you could run the rest of those horses ten times and probably have six different winners,” Plesa said. “It looks like most of the 3-year-olds are pretty equal.”

At Belmont Park, home of the Belmont Stakes, trainer Todd Pletcher decided not to work Withers winner Harlem Rocker this morning due to the weather. The son of Macho Uno is expected to drill Sunday morning with a Preakness decision made Monday or Tuesday. The undefeated colt is owned by Frank Stronach, who also owns Pimlico Race Course. Pletcher will saddle Lexington Stakes (Grade II) winner Behindatthebar in next Saturday’s classic.

The Preakness is limited to 14 starters with the last full field just three years ago. Thirteen of the last 16 years have produced double-digit starters.

The post position draw for the Preakness is Wednesday, May 14 at 5 p.m. at the ESPN Zone in downtown Baltimore. The event will be televised live on ESPN 2.

The 133rd running of the Preakness on May 17 will be televised by NBC. Preakness post time is 6:15 p.m.

Edited from www.preakness.com.

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"Macho Again Challenges Big Brown; Recapturetheglory Has A Fever and Will Miss The 2008 Preakness Stakes" was posted on Sunday, May 11th, 2008 at 3:03 am and is filed under Horse Racing Industry, Horses, Pimlico Track, Preakness Stakes, Race Tracks News, Stakes Races. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.