Macho Again considers Preakness again; Recapturetheglory out with fever

Macho Again considers Preakness again; Recapturetheglory

out with fever

A day after being taken out of

consideration for the May 17 Preakness S. (G1), West Point Thoroughbreds' MACHO

AGAIN (Macho Uno) was back in the picture.

"Last night we sat down and really looked at the field," trainer

Dallas Stewart said. "There

is one superstar in there (BIG BROWN [Boundary]) and I feel (Macho Again) can be competitive with the

rest of them. He has never been doing better than he is now."

Winner of the Derby Trial on April 26 in his most recent start, Macho Again

worked a half-mile in :50 4/5 before the renovation break Saturday morning over

the fast track

at Churchill Downs with Kenny Bourque up. The move was the 52nd fastest of 59 at

the distance.

"The decision was not based on his work this morning," Stewart said. "He

never has been much of a work horse. But we will see how he is in the morning,

and we are seriously considering it. It's a once in a lifetime chance and Terry

(Finley of West Point Thoroughbreds) has left the decision up to me.

"The horse has been doing well since the (Derby Trial)," Stewart added. "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."

Macho Again has compiled a record of 8-3-2-0 with earnings of $143,761. His

two worst races came on synthetic surfaces and his only off-the-board finish on

dirt was a sixth-place effort in the Lecomte S. (G3) at Fair Grounds in which he

raced wide and was coming off a seven-week layoff.

Julien Leparoux, who was aboard for the Derby Trial victory two weeks ago,

retains the mount in the Preakness.

Jerry Carroll, Stan

Kaplan, Ronald Plattner and Mark Guilfoyle's RACECAR RHAPSODY (Tale of the Cat)

was also on the track Saturday morning at Churchill, working five

furlongs in 1:01 after the morning renovation break under

Jose Castanon. The move was the third quickest of 29 at the distance.

"He worked well," trainer Ken McPeek said. "He laid off another horse and

finished strong."

Robby Albarado, who has ridden Racecar Rhapsody in all six of his starts, has

the call for the Preakness. The bay colt, fourth in the Lexington S. (G2),

Lane's End S. (G2) and Delta Jackpot S. (G3), and third in the Kentucky Jockey

Club S. (G2) during his career, owns just one win, that coming when he broke his

maiden by two lengths at Keeneland last October.

"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."

He will get that extra ground in the Preakness with the 1 3/16 miles being

the longest he has run. Racecar Rhapsody is scheduled to ship to Pimlico on

Wednesday.

Also at Churchill, Kentucky

Derby (G1) winner Big Brown galloped for the first time since taking down the first

leg of the Triple Crown last Saturday.

"God is good," trainer Rick Dutrow said with a smile as he glanced up at the

clear skies, a commodity that had been absent the previous two mornings.

With Michelle Nevin in the saddle and an NBC film crew monitoring every

move, the colt went to the track at 8:30 a.m. (EDT), jogged around to the front side

and then galloped a little more than a mile.

"I was looking for what I saw," Dutrow said after Big Brown returned to Barn

22.

Big Brown had jogged the past three mornings, the previous two because of wet

track conditions. He is scheduled to train at Churchill Downs the next four mornings and

ship to Pimlico on Wednesday afternoon.

With Dylan Armstrong up, Robert LaPenta's STEVIL (Maria's Mon) galloped 1 1/2 miles before the renovation break at Churchill

Downs as he continued his preparations for the Preakness. Heather Stark, assistant to trainer Nick Zito, reported all was well with the

gray colt, who is scheduled to work Monday.

The last of the Preakness hopefuls at Churchill Downs to go to the track

Saturday morning was TRES BORRACHOS (Ecton Park), who traveled a little less than 1

1/4 miles

with a combination of jogging and galloping under Andy Durnin shortly after 9

a.m.

Trainer Beau Greely, who owns the bay gelding in partnership with John Greely IV and Phil Houchens, plans to work Tres Borrachos on Tuesday and ship to

Pimlico on Wednesday.

Tres Borrachos has been bothered recently by a minor skin irritation on the

left side of his neck.

"He had a little ringworm that showed up last week," Greely said. "It has

dried up now, but at the moment he wouldn't win any beauty contests."

Sloppy conditions at Pimlico didn't stop Kentucky Bear from going to the track Saturday (Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club) Currently KENTUCKY BEAR (Mr. Greeley) is the only Preakness starter on the Pimlico grounds. This morning with trainer Reade Baker watching, the chestnut drilled five furlongs in 1:01 over the sloppy Pimlico oval at 8:30 a.m. with Jamie Theriot in the irons. The duo teamed up to finish third in the Blue Grass S. (G1) 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 move since the Blue Grass for Kentucky Bear, who logged five-furlong bullet drills at Churchill Downs and Keeneland the last two Saturday mornings. "If Big Brown was in any other race, other than coming from (the) Kentucky (Derby) to (the) 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."

The Preakness field gained a runner and lost a runner all in the same day. Ronnie Lamarque and Louie Roussel III's RECAPTURETHEGLORY (Cherokee Run) has had his Preakness

plans canceled after running a fever.

"We took his temperature last night," assistant trainer Lara Van Deren said

earlier in the day.

"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. We pulled blood on him and gave him some anti-inflammatories.

The blood work will tell us everything and we should get that back this

afternoon."

At 2 p.m., Lamarque made it official after blood test results were revealed

on the colt.

"The racehorse comes first," said co-owner Lamarque, who teamed up with

co-owner and trainer 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."

The colt captured the

Illinois Derby (G2) by four lengths to get into the Derby, where he ended up

running fifth. With his defection, it appears none of the 19 runners who lost to

Big Brown in Louisville, Kentucky, last Saturday will compete in the Preakness.

The last time that occurred was 60 years ago with Citation.

About a dozen horses are likely for next Saturday's $1 million Preakness: BEHINDATTHEBAR

(Forest Wildcat), Big Brown, GIANT MOON (Giant's Causeway), HEY BYRN (Put It

Back), ICABAD CRANE (Jump Start), Kentucky Bear, Macho Again, Racecar Rhapsody, RILEY

TUCKER (Harlan's Holiday), Stevil, Tres Borrachos and YANKEE BRAVO (Yankee

Gentleman). HARLEM ROCKER (Macho Uno) is considered a possible starter.

In other Preakness news:

Trainer Eddie Plesa announced Saturday that he has secured the services of

C.C. Lopez to ride Hey Byrn in the Preakness. Lopez was aboard when the

three-year-old won the Holy Bull S. (G3) at Gulfstream Park on April 12.

"It looks to me if you take out Big Brown then you could run the rest of

those horses 10 times and probably have six different winners," Plesa said. "It

looks like most of the three-year-olds are pretty equal."

At Belmont Park, trainer Todd Pletcher decided not to work Withers S. (G3)

winner Harlem Rocker this morning due to the weather. The undefeated gray is

expected to drill Sunday morning with a Preakness decision made Monday or

Tuesday.

According to trainer Graham Motion, the decision to enter Federico Tesio S.

winner Icabad Crane was made after the dark bay 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," Motion said. "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."

The post position draw for the Preakness will be held on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

(EDT) at the ESPN Zone in downtown Baltimore. The event will be televised live

on ESPN2. The Preakness is limited to 14 starters.

The $1 million Preakness will be televised by NBC. Post time is 6:15 p.m.