Oxbow steals Preakness as Orb struggles home fourth

Oxbow looked strong all the way around Old Hilltop (Harold Roth/Horsephotos.com)

Kentucky Derby winner Orb was heavily favored to win Saturday’s $1 million

Preakness at Pimlico, middle jewel of the Triple Crown, but at the
conclusion of the 1 3/16-mile classic it was Oxbow, another colt with legendary
connections, who ended Orb’s quest to become the first Triple Crown winner since
1978.

Surrounded by racing’s latest incarnation of the Sunshine Boys, recently
un-retired Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens, 50, and Hall of Fame trainer D.
Wayne Lukas, 77, Oxbow turned in a front-running masterpiece to land the
Preakness for Brad Kelley’s Calumet Farm, the historic Lexington, Kentucky,
nursery Kelley purchased last year.

For Stevens, who returned to race-riding in January after a seven-year
absence, it was his ninth classic victory and his third in the Preakness, having
scored previously with Silver Charm (1997) and Point Given (2001).

“To win a classic at 50 years old after seven years retirement, it doesn’t
get any better than this. This is super, super sweet, and it happened for the
right guy,” said Stevens, who also captured the Dixie Stakes with 24-1 longshot
Skyring for Calumet and Lukas in the race before the Preakness.

This was Lukas’s 14th Triple Crown race win, surpassing the record he jointly
held with fellow Hall of Famer “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons, but his first classic
since 2000. He now has six Preakness wins, trailing only the seven conditioned
by R. Wyndham Walden in the late 19th century. Lukas scored his first Preakness
win 33 years ago with Codex.

A jubilant Gary Stevens came out of retirement four months ago (Jim Tyrrell/Horsephotos.com)

Stevens sent Oxbow to the front passing the stands, keeping the colt well off
the inside, and set highly sensible fractions of :23 4/5, :48 3/5 and 1:13 1/5
over a fast track that had been producing slow times throughout the weekend.
With Goldencents his closest pursuer to the far turn, Oxbow let it out a notch
approaching the quarter pole and appeared to have plenty left in reserve for the
stretch run.

“I fully expected that Orb, possibly Departing and Will Take Charge, would be
making a run,” Stevens said. “I couldn’t believe that no one challenged me going
into the far turn, but when no one did, I said, ‘I think everybody’s in trouble
right now.'”

Floating out into the middle of the track at the top of the lane, Oxbow was
chased by Itsmyluckyday, Mylute and Departing. Farther back was Orb, the 3-5
favorite, who broke from post 1 and stayed fairly close to the rail throughout.
The Derby winner was passed briefly by Departing rounding the far turn and it
did not appear from that point as if he would reproduce his marvelous effort
from Churchill Downs two weeks ago.

“He was in a good spot early in the race. They were going slow up front and
he was fine,” said Joel Rosario, the jockey aboard Orb. “When I got to the
half-mile pole, he had a hard time keeping up. I used my stick to try to get him
going. He usually takes you there. He always runs hard. But today he never took
off. He just steadied. Today was not his day.”

Oxbow wore the Black-Eyed Susans as his connections celebrated his victory in Preakness 138 (Spencer Tulis/Horsephotos.com)

Oxbow received a winner’s share of $600,000, boosting his career earnings to
$983,500. A maiden winner at Churchill Downs last November in his fourth start,
Oxbow finished fourth in the CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park in his final
race at two.

Oxbow kicked off 2013 with an authoritative 11 1/2-length win in the Lecomte
at Fair Grounds, weakened late to fourth in the Risen Star over the same track,
and then missed by a head to stablemate Will Take Charge in the Rebel at Oaklawn
Park. He concluded his Kentucky Derby preparatory work with a dull fifth-place
effort in a slowly-run renewal of the Arkansas Derby.

In the Kentucky Derby Oxbow finished sixth, 9 3/4 lengths behind Orb, but was
widely considered to have run a strong race given how close the colt had raced
to a blistering pace. He held on much better than the other speed, getting to
within a half-length of the lead at the quarter pole before fizzling out in the
sloppy going.

Bred by Colts Neck Stables in Kentucky, Oxbow is a close relative of Paynter,
last year’s Haskell Invitational hero who riveted the nation by beating
life-threatening colitis and laminitis. Supported by the votes of his many fans,
Paynter earned both the Vox Populi Award and the NTRA Moment of the Year, for
his protracted battle.