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Team Departing has no regrets skipping Derby to await Preakness

Departing will seek to give historic Claiborne Farm its first victory in the Preakness (Mike Kane/Maryland Jockey Club) Although several other horses that prepped at Fair Grounds ran well in the Kentucky Derby, trainer Al Stall Jr. has no regrets about having Departing skip the race to run fresh in the Preakness at Pimlico on May 18. Graduates of the Risen Star and the Louisiana Derby at Stall's hometown track in New Orleans finished in the five spots behind Orb in the Derby, run over a sloppy track at Churchill Downs. "With those conditions, I was happy that the horse was sitting back in a nice comfortable stall instead of in a mile and a quarter war on a tough racetrack," Stall said Monday in his office at Churchill Downs. "I didn't think about that. We were committed to what we were going to do and we don't look back." Departing, bred and owned by Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, was a Derby candidate, but was taken off the trail when he finished third in the Louisiana Derby. Following that race, Stall and the owners changed their approach and scrapped plans for Kentucky, deciding to focus on the Preakness. Departing was sent to Hawthorne on April 20 to run in the Illinois Derby and he cruised to a 3 1/4-length victory from an outside post. With four wins in five career starts, the War Front gelding heads the list of new shooters headed to Pimlico for the 138th Preakness. Stall said that the Illinois Derby route was good for Departing. "The timing was perfect," Stall said. "He's not that big of a horse. The race was a prep for the Preakness. That's what Hawthorne designed it as and we're going to follow it that way."

Although Departing finished a competitive third in the Louisiana Derby behind Revolutionary and Mylute -- who were third and fifth, respectively, in the Kentucky Derby -- his connections decided to change course.

"The Louisiana Derby was only his fourth race," Stall said. "He ran well, but we just thought that he was lacking in seasoning. He might have gotten in a little bit of trouble and it looked like the holes were moving a little bit faster than he was."

Stall said Departing showed talent, but that he won his first three races so easily that he really needed more experience before stepping onto the big stage of the Triple Crown. The Louisiana Derby clearly picked him up quite a bit and he showed a lot of seasoning and a little guts in the Illinois Derby. It's apples and oranges. The way he trains every day. He's more into it. He just has more life to him. That last little piece of seasoning he got was the Louisiana Derby."

Stall plans to gallop Departing at Churchill Down the rest of the week and is planning to give him a breeze over the weekend before shipping to Maryland on May 15. The veteran trainer was impressed with the Shug McGaughey-trained Orb's performance in the Derby.

"He was the best horse that day," Stall said. "He seems to be a horse going in the right direction. He's got all the pedigree in the world, all the connections. He's strictly the horse to beat. I have no idea whether we can beat him or not. We're happy with our horse and are going to take a chance."

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