Preakness runners doing well after race

The Preakness field heading into the stretch run (Patrick Tyrrell/Horsephotos.com) MACHO AGAIN (Macho Uno), second in Saturday's Preakness S. (G1) at Pimlico, came out of the race in good order and was shipped back to trainer Dallas Stewart's barn at Churchill Downs on Sunday morning. "He looked to be fine," Stewart said. "He ate well (Saturday) night. Of course, we didn't do much with him." Macho Again ran into a juggernaut named BIG BROWN (Boundary) in the Preakness, but still did well to take down the place. Stewart was very happy with the way his Derby Trial winner ran in the 133rd Preakness. "I thought it was excellent," he said. "He proved a lot to everybody, me included, that he can go two turns. He's got a good feel for racing. He's going to win some nice races, we hope. He ran well."

Stewart said it is too early to know whether Macho Again will face Big Brown

again in the June 7 Belmont S. (G1) at Belmont Park.

"We really haven't given it a hard thought yet," Stewart said. "We've got

three weeks to think about it."

Immediately after the Preakness was run Saturday, Stewart was enthusiastic

about going to the Belmont. On Sunday morning, though, the conditioner was a bit

more cautious about making plans.

"You've got to make sure everything is right with the horse and the horse is

doing good," he said. "And our horse ran back in three weeks. We'll get him back

on the track and see how he does."

Stewart said he would not skip the Belmont to avoid Big Brown because he does

not believe in ducking one horse. However, he was impressed by Big Brown's

Preakness.

"It was just a super performance, just awesome," Stewart said. "He really

threw it down. It was unbelievable."

Trainer Graham Motion said Sunday that he would consider taking Preakness

third ICABAD CRANE (Jump Start) to the Belmont next month.

"I think it's definitely a possibility," Motion said. "Obviously, we want to

see how he is, but I think (jockey) Jeremy (Rose) feels that the distance is not

an issue with him. I think with a cleaner trip (in the Preakness), there was a

good shot that we would have been a good second. With that in mind, we might

pursue it.

"It's not through lack of respect for Big Brown, because obviously he's the

horse we all thought he was. But he's still got to go out there and win the

race. It's three weeks from now and a lot can happen between now and then."

Motion said that New York-bred Icabad Crane came out of the race in good

shape.

"He seems absolutely fine. No problems," Motion said. "His eyes are a little

swollen just from getting a lot of dirt in his face, but he seems well and quite

perky, really.

"Because he's so laid-back about everything, it doesn't seem to knock him out

quite like it might another horse. He just takes it in his stride. He obviously

ran hard and he's tired, but he seems fine."

Trainer Kenny McPeek said RACECAR RHAPSODY (Tale of the Cat), who ran fourth

in the Preakness, ate well after the race and looked good early Sunday morning

when he was shipped back to Louisville, Kentucky. McPeek added that he might

also consider running Racecar Rhapsody in the Belmont.

"We're not going to rule it out right now, but it depends on who's going,"

McPeek said. "Right now, I'd say we're doubtful."

Racecar Rhapsody turned in his fourth consecutive fourth-place finish and

McPeek gave it a good review.

"We were proud of his effort," the trainer said. "We were really hoping to

get at least second, but that didn't happen. I don't know how much he got beat

for second, but it wasn't much. Other than not getting up for second, he ran

well."

McPeek saluted Big Brown, who will try to complete the Triple Crown sweep in

the Belmont in just three weeks.

"He's one of the most impressive horses we've seen in a long, long time,"

McPeek said. "Maybe it's a weaker three-year-old crop, but who's to know that?

He's a really special horse. If he wins the next one, which I do think he'll win

and I think he'll win it for fun, you put him in the category of Secretariat and

Seattle Slew."

Trainer Nick Zito walked his charge STEVIL (Maria's Mon)

in the quiet shedrow of the Preakness Stakes Barn Sunday morning as the vast majority

of runners in the middle jewel had already packed up and departed. Zito then

walked the fifth-place finisher onto a van heading back to New York at about

8:20 a.m. (EDT).

"He came out of the race good," said Zito, who indicated that the gray colt

would get some time off before a summer schedule is put in place. "I have

nothing planned for him right now. He ran a good race; he tried hard. The other

horse (Big Brown) looks like the real deal. It should be a great Belmont."

Zito was the man who stopped the last Triple Crown bid when his longshot Birdstone upset Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones in the 2004

Belmont.

Zito's top three-year-old War Pass (Cherokee Run), named champion

two-year-old male after taking the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) last season,

missed the Triple Crown series after incurring a hairline fracture in his left

front ankle in the Wood Memorial (G1) and will be out until fall. Zito is

planning to try Big Brown again in the Belmont with Anak Nakal (Victory

Gallop), who was a wide seventh behind him in the Kentucky Derby most recently.

Anak Nakal

breezed four furlongs in :49 4/5 over a fast Oklahoma training track at Saratoga

on Sunday.

"(Anak Nakal is) by a Belmont winner (Victory Gallop)," said Zito,

referencing the 1998 winner who nipped Real Quiet by a nose to derail another

Triple Crown.

Assistant trainer Sherri Wickett walked Preakness sixth-place finisher

KENTUCKY BEAR (Mr. Greeley) in the shedrow shortly after 8 a.m. Sunday during

his penultimate morning on the grounds. The colt and stablemate Bear Now

(Tiznow), who ran third in the Allaire duPont Distaff (G2) on the Preakness

undercard, will be heading back to Canada on Monday.

"He came out of it pretty good," said Wickett, who will remain in Baltimore,

Maryland, while trainer Reade Baker was scheduled to head home to Toronto Sunday

afternoon. "He's feeling pretty good today."

Baker said Saturday that the lightly raced colt would not be considered for

the Belmont but instead might be headed for the turf the rest of the summer.

He's had only four career starts, but his solid third on the Polytrack at

Keeneland in the Blue Grass (G1) and his pedigree have Baker leaning that way.

"I'm looking at a couple of those races at Colonial (Downs)," Baker said.

"He's by Mr. Greeley, so he should like the grass. He's a nice horse. He had

some traffic in the race (Preakness) and I don't think he got to show what he

can do."

Bea Oxenberg's HEY BYRN (Put It Back) was shipped from Pimlico to his summer

home at Monmouth Park on Sunday morning after running seventh in the Preakness.

"He came out of the race 100 percent," said trainer Eddie Plesa, who has no

short-term plans for the Holy Bull S. (G3) winner.

"We might try him on the turf and see what happens there," he said. "We're

not planning on any big races, like the Belmont. We'll just kind of regroup; see

how he comes out of this race, physically and mentally. Physically, he looks

great. We'll just play it by ear for a little while."

Plesa said he was impressed with the performance Big Brown turned in

Saturday.

"It was an awesome race, no question about it," Plesa said. "It looks like

he's going to do what hasn't been done in 30 years. And I wish him all the luck

in the world. They deserve it."

Trainer Richard Schosberg reported that his New York-bred GIANT MOON (Giant's

Causeway) came out of his eighth-place finish in the Preakness in good order.

"He just ran a little spotty," Schosberg explained. "He got parked wide, just

kept getting parked wider and wider. I don't know that a better trip would have

put us in an exciting finish, but certainly it didn't help us being as wide as

we were. But no one was beating the winner. The second and third horses ran

great. We'll just regroup and see where we're going."

The New York-based trainer put Giant Moon on a Belmont Park-bound van Sunday

morning.

Trainer Paulo Lobo said Sunday morning that GAYEGO (Gilded Time), who set the

early pace in the Preakness as the second choice in the wagering, was headed for a

rest after this 11th-place finish.

"He came back OK. He did not have a fever this morning," Lobo said after his

flight to California landed. "I scoped him after the race and he had a lot of

mucous. It could be allergies. It could be a throat infection or even a lung

infection. But the colt seems to be OK today."

Like the other trainers in the race, Lobo saluted the Preakness winner,

unbeaten Big Brown.

"He's a super horse," Lobo said. "He did it very easily. He tracked a fast

pace for six furlongs, 1:10, and he was galloping. Very impressive."

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and RILEY TUCKER (Harlan's Holiday) were back

in New York Sunday morning. The 12th-place finisher was none the worse for wear,

his trainer said.

"So far, so good," Mott said. "I'd love to find an easier spot (for his next

race)."

Mott, who trained the great Cigar to 16 consecutive victories in the

mid-1990s, said he believes Big Brown has a legitimate chance to become racing's

12th Triple Crown winner.

"Why not, right?" he said. "It looks like it. Big Brown's a monster."