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Papa Clem blows out down Pimlico stretch
"Snow Chief worked :33 1/5 that Friday and the owner (Carl Grinstead with Ben Rochelle) was pretty upset with me," said the 81-year-old Stute, who is hoping to see his son, Gary, match his feat of saddling a winner with his first Preakness starter. "They'd have hung me in effigy if he got beat. He (Grinstead) had made a statement to the press that I'd ruined the Preakness like I ruined the Derby with my fast workouts." Grinstead was wrong and Mel Stute was right, atoning for the defeat as the Kentucky Derby favorite two weeks earlier. It turned out to be the only Preakness starter Mel Stute would ever have. He recalled Friday that his confidence level took a hit after Snow Chief finished 11th in Louisville, but it was back two weeks later. The trainer bet $400 on his own horse and had a $50 exacta with friendly rival Charlie Whittingham's Ferdinand, the colt who had beaten him in the Derby. "I've still never won a race in Kentucky," Mel Stute said. "I've tried a lot of times, so I thought maybe Gary could get it done (with Papa Clem), but it didn't happen. Maybe we can get lucky again here. It would be something." Snow Chief beat Ferdinand by four lengths in the Preakness, a day Mel Stute still calls "his greatest day in racing." His eyes lit up as he recalled that memorable afternoon of May 17, 1986. "Charlie had his horse right here," he said pointing to the traditional stall 40 in the Pimlico Stakes Barn. "We went out together to the track. It was kind of a day in your life. Us younger guys really liked Charles. He handled himself so well. Charlie's the one that got me to come here. His filly had gotten beaten at 1-9 in the Kentucky Oaks (G1), and he told me that kind of stuff happens at Churchill Downs and we better come over to the Preakness. I think he just wanted somebody to drink with. We ended up beating him, so he said he'd never do that again. I've been living off Snow Chief a long time.'' The elder Stute said he believes his son can make a little history of his own. "I've got a lot of confidence in him (Papa Clem)," he said. "I really believe he should have been second the other day. I'm pretty close to him because I bought his grandmother for Clement Hirsch. I have a little connection to him (Papa Clem is owned by Bo Hirsch, Clement's son)." The elder Stute has been a fixture in western racing for six decades, training the likes of Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) heroine Very Subtle and 1986 juvenile filly champion Brave Raj. They've even named the clubhouse bar at Hollywood Park for him. Gary, 52, had served as his chief assistant for more than 20 years before going on his own. This is his first Triple Crown runner.
Trainer Chip Woolley said he had no concerns that Smith hadn't gotten the opportunity for a get-acquainted gallop on Mine That Bird. "He's a great rider. He's got great instincts. He'll be all right. We know what we're going to do," the New Mexico-based trainer said. "Our plan will be to lay back and come from off the pace. Mike's great at it. He's patient. It'll work out fine." Neither Smith nor Woolley expects Mine That Bird to be given the opportunity to duplicate his Derby dream trip in the 1-3/16-mile Preakness. "There's nothing like Churchill and the Derby: you're going a mile and a quarter; it's grueling; it's hard on them there; so horses are done a little earlier there," Smith said. "(Speed) will carry a little farther here. They don't get done nearly as quick as they do in the Derby. It's going to be a little different here. "Our strategy is going to be similar. I mean, we're not going to be 20 out of it behind the last horse. But it's going to be: take him back and, hopefully, get him into that rhythm and see if he'll punch like that again." Woolley concurs. "At Churchill we were the winner at the eighth-pole, so (the slight cutback in distance) doesn't concern me. What concerns me more is the kind of trip I get around there. I need a good clean trip," he said. "Chances of getting the rail trip like we got at Churchill are a little slimmer here." Smith has had success with deep closers in the Triple Crown, having ridden Giacomo for a fast-closing triumph in the 2005 Derby and guiding Prairie Bayou to a 1993 Preakness win from far off the pace. But he knows the task of coordinating a good trip from far back aboard Mine That Bird likely won't be easy. "I have the same concerns that I have on any horse that I'm going to ride that's coming from back," he said "You're hoping that you get back and don't get knocked around. You hope when the time comes and you do pull the trigger that there's somewhere to go. You just gotta hope for a good trip." Mine That Bird demonstrated great energy while finishing his morning gallop under exercise rider Charlie Figueroa Friday morning. "We let him stretch out a little bit down through there. He looked pretty good. It looks like he gets over the racetrack good." Woolley said. "He got over the track good, looked good and we were really happy with the way he went. He came back and couldn't blow out a match." Jockey Calvin Borel made it clear Friday that he is very confident that filly Rachel Alexandra belongs in the Preakness, for which she is the 8-5 morning-line favorite. "Right now, I'm glad," he said. "She's got a lot to prove and I've got a lot to prove for the people and show the public why I think she's the best horse in the country right now. And this is the time to do it." Borel won the Kentucky Derby on Mine That Bird, but decided to take the unprecedented step of giving up that mount in the Preakness to stay with the filly, whom he has ridden to five consecutive victories. That decision came about when Stonestreet Stables and Harold T. McCormick purchased the filly a week ago and pointed her to the Preakness. While Borel complimented Mine That Bird and said he expects the gelding to turn in a good performance, the veteran jockey believes he will ride the winner. "I think he'll run a good race," Borel said. "I don't think he can run with my filly, but he'll run a good race." During the telephone interview, Borel expanded on his view of how Mine That Bird and the rest of the field stack up against Rachel Alexandra, who won the Kentucky Oaks (G1) by 20 1/4 lengths on May 1. "He'd have to run the race of his life to beat my filly," Borel said. "I think all the others are going to have to run the race of their lives or me fall off or something stupid happen." Rachel Alexander was sent out to gallop under exercise rider Dominic Terry early Friday morning. "She was relaxed and seemed happy to be out there and went great," said Scott Blasi, assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen. Blasi said he is pleased with the way the filly is coming into the race. "She's loose and she's happy," Blasi said. "I feel comfortable with how she's doing. Her weight looks good." Trainer David Fawkes sent BIG DRAMA (Montrbook) to the track Friday morning for exercise that included a mile jog and a mile gallop. The South Florida-based trainer, who will have a division of horses at Monmouth Park this year, may not be thrilled with the number 1 post that was drawn for Big Drama, but he's not going to lose any sleep over it, either. "It doesn't necessarily bother me. You have to see. The break is everything. After the break we'll see," he said. "It's not like he's just got moderate speed, where you break and get covered up -- and you're dead. He has enough natural ability to be where he needs to be. If he needs to be close, he'll be close. If he needs to tuck in behind, he'll tuck in behind. Where he needs to be, he'll be." Fawkes has decided to take the blinkers off Big Drama, hoping the move will help his speedball relax. After coming up just short in his debut, Big Drama has finished first in his last six races, including a track-record shattering victory in the seven-furlong Swale S. (G2) at Gulfstream Park, from which he was disqualified for bumping second-place finisher This Ones for Phil (Untuttable). Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who holds the record for Preakness starters with 32, paused for a second Friday morning before describing the mood on the eve of this year's race. "Uncertain. That's the best choice of words," he said. "People are having trouble getting a handle on it this year more than any other year. If the filly wasn't in here, it would be totally upside down, because we're still trying to validate the Derby winner. The filly gives us some stability because she is such a talent. There is a gray area, her first time facing boys, but the uncertainty and the confusion of trying to get a handle on it is pretty tough." Lukas said he couldn't settle on who the top seven contenders were in the Kentucky Derby and is having the same trouble with the Preakness. Lukas' colts, FLYING PRIVATE (Fusaichi Pegasus) and LUV GOV (Ten Most Wanted), galloped over the track Friday morning. Trainer Larry Jones was aboard his Kentucky Derby beaten favorite FRIESAN FIRE (A.P. Indy) Friday morning for a five-furlong jog and five-furlong gallop at Pimlico. Jones, who will retire from training his public stable at the end of the year, admitted that he's already feeling a little nostalgic. "Every time we do something we realize that it could very well be the last time it's done. We're trying to enjoy everything as we go through it," said Jones before turning to humor to describe his mood. "Some of it we're going through, thinking, 'Thank God, we don't have to do this again.'" Jones, though, will hardly withdraw from the Thoroughbred world. "We're still going to be involved. My wife (Cindy) still has a horse or two, and we still have a few horses in partnership with other people. Those people, we're going to be connected with, not training them the way I am right now. I'm hoping I'm their exercise boy, and I'll find someone to train them," he said. "I'll still get to work around the barn in some capacity. But we have stallion seasons. We'll be focusing more on our own private stable." Jones is looking forward to the change of pace. "I would like to sleep late a morning or two, but the biggest thing I want to make happen is: when one of the grandkids has a birthday, I want to be there to watch them open their birthday presents," he said. "And come Christmas morning, we're going to try to get them all together where we can watch them open their Christmas presents -- something that we haven't got to do that everyone takes for granted."
"I'm really hoping that we can get a good race into him. I hope he breaks cleanly. That's the main thing. I'll probably be sitting right behind them. I want a good spot. He likes competition. He likes to have a target to run at. Turning for home (in the Derby) the target disappeared and he was out there by himself. Mine That Bird went by him too fast to really engage with him. One good thing about having Rachel Alexandra in there is she is a great target. I just hope we can catch that target." Baffert said Mine That Bird really loved the wet sealed track in the Derby and benefited from a great ground-saving trip by jockey Calvin Borel. The newly elected Hall of Fame trainer is hoping that Pioneerof the Nile can take another step forward in the Preakness. "He's a really good horse," Baffert said. "I really thought I could win the (Derby) race. It didn't happen. You've got to forget about it and move on to the next race. Maybe my theory is right. Maybe I'll get a better chance. Now you've got the filly in there, a new factor. She's very, very tough. She's coming in there sort of semi-fresh because she didn't have to run against any colts. She's somebody that you have to reckon with, and the pace is going to be a big factor this year. We don't know what the track is going to be like. I hope it doesn't rain too much. I'd love to see the track we had today. "It's still going to be a very interesting race. There's going to be a lot of questions that are going to be answered. That's what the Preakness is about. Maybe my horse ran his race in the Derby, maybe he didn't. I think everybody feels that way going in. This is like, I want revenge. Fortunately, our horse looks fantastic coming into the race. It looks like he's going to run another big race. Rachel Alexandra and the other horses look great. It's going to be a tough race." TAKE THE POINTS (Even the Score) completed his preparations for the Preakness Friday with a 1 3/8-mile gallop at Belmont Park. He is scheduled to be shipped from trainer Todd Pletcher's barn to Baltimore at 2 a.m. Saturday. Wearing blinkers in a race for the first time, Take the Points could find himself attending the pace with the filly Rachel Alexandra. In 2007, Pletcher prepared the filly Rags to Riches for her victory over Curlin in the Belmont S. (G1). "At the end of the day, you have to decide when you get fillies of that quality, and they can only accomplish so much running within their gender," Pletcher said. "Rags to Riches was a very specific situation because she was truly bred to run a mile and a half. Being a half to Jazil and by A.P. Indy, she was bred to do that. We analyzed it closely and there were a lot of reasons to running. At the time, she was doing very well and we didn't feel like waiting around three more weeks to the Mother Goose S. (G1) -- you never take for granted that they're going to be doing as well as they are at the moment -- so it felt like everything was coming together to take a shot." Al Stall Jr., a prominent trainer at Churchill Downs and Fair Grounds for several years, looks forward to saddling TERRAIN (Sky Mesa), his first starter in a Triple Crown, event in Saturday's Preakness. "I'm kind of glad it's the Preakness. I've been around the Derby fanfare for 30-something years. I enjoy it, but this is much different. It's exciting," he said Friday morning after sending Terrain to the track for a 1 1/2-mile gallop and a schooling session at the starting gate. "I'm kind of glad it's here, because this place here is really focused on the Preakness horses. The Derby is just a three-week Mardi Gras-type thing. I'm very comfortable, happy to be here. "We're happy with the horse. The draw fell into place. We just need one more thing to fall into place -- the race," he said. "The horse is doing well. He acts like a fresh horse. He's eating well; he's bright. I'm looking forward to leading him over there, because you know he's going to try." Trainer Bill Komlo brought a van with four runners aboard to Pimlico Friday morning, but TONE IT DOWN (Medaglia d'Oro) was not one of them. He will arrive Saturday morning from Laurel, where he simply walked the shedrow Friday morning. "He had a lot of training the last two or three days, so we backed off on him today," said Komlo, one of three septuagenarians training in this Preakness (McCarthy and Lukas being the others). "The plan for tomorrow is to leave about 6 o'clock and we should be over there by quarter to seven."
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