Ride On Curlin breezes at Pimlico, other Preakness hopefuls gallop

Ride On Curlin breezes at Pimlico, other Preakness hopefuls

gallop

Trainer Billy Gowan watched Ride On Curlin

breeze "an easy half-mile" in :49 3/5 from the Pimlico press box porch

Wednesday morning with a small entourage that included owner Daniel Dougherty

and invited guest Art Sherman, trainer of Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness

Stakes favorite California Chrome.

Pimlico clocker Mark Euga called fractions of :12 2/5, :25 1/5 and :37 3/5 for three furlongs after exercise rider Bryan Beccia broke off from the half-mile pole

over the fast dirt. The seventh-place Derby finisher galloped out in 1:03 3/5 for five furlongs.

"I thought it was good," said Gowan, who has only four horses in his stable,

including the Arkansas Derby runner-up. "He probably couldn't make him go much

slower without just throwing him down. He could have gone a little faster, of

course. We've been taking it real slow since the Derby. I usually like to work

him five or six days out (from a race), but with the Derby, walking him three

days and shipping up we had to wait. It's not a big deal."

Ride On Curlin, along with General a Rod, is one of only

two Derby runners to come to Baltimore to re-try Sherman's budding superstar in

the middle jewel of the Triple Crown.

"The way things are today, people don't like to run their

horses back in two weeks," said Gowan, a former assistant to Hall of Fame

trainer Jack Van Berg. "My horse came out the next day after the Derby and I was

walking him and he was on his hind legs. I say if they're doing good, run 'em."

Ride On Curlin has run more than most of the sophomores in

the upper echelon of this generation. He's had 10 career starts and the

Preakness will be his sixth trip to the starting gate already this season. The

Derby was only the second race in which he failed to finish in the top three, but that was a

troubled trip under Calvin Borel.

Gowan is switching riders to Joel Rosario for

this race.

"I think he'll be a good fit for the horse," Gowan said. "Hopefully with the

speed in here there'll be something for him to run at. I'm just hoping we get a

good trip this time."

Sherman and Gowan expressed mutual respect three days out

from their rematch.

"(Ride On Curlin) looked pretty good," said Sherman, who arrived on

Tuesday from California. "This is a great view of the track from up here."

"(California Chrome) looks like a pretty good horse to

me," Gowan said. "I can't see any flaws in him."

Grade 1-placed Social

Inclusion jogged from the gap at the top of the stretch to the three-quarter

pole before galloping a mile under exercise rider Domingo Navarro Wednesday

morning at Pimlico.

Social Inclusion is scheduled to make only his fourth

lifetime race in Saturday's Preakness after showing enormous potential

while winning his debut by 7 1/2 lengths on February 22, defeating Honor Code by 10

lengths in a March 12 allowance while breaking the Gulfstream track-record for 1

1/16 miles, and finishing third after setting the pace in the Wood Memorial.

"His first two races he won easy, and for me, he ran a

wonderful race at Aqueduct," trainer Manny Azpurua said.

Had Social Inclusion finished second in the Wood, he would

have earned an automatic spot in the Kentucky Derby field, and his connections

admit they probably would have run him at Churchill Downs on May 3. However,

because of his late start, the Preakness Stakes, not the Kentucky Derby, had

been the main target for Social Inclusion before he made his first start.

"I got my horse in my barn on the 15th of December. I

didn't want to push him. I wanted to give him enough time. He was a big horse.

Now he's bigger and stronger," Azpurua said. "When you're patient with a horse,

they give back."

Social Inclusion recorded his final major move for the Preakness when going a

half-mile in :47 on Monday.

General a Rod was also on the track Wednesday, galloping 1 1/2 miles under exercise rider Joel Barrientos. Trainer

Mike Maker said he will school the Roman Ruler colt in the gate Thursday following his morning

gallop.

"Nothing out of character," Maker said of the morning's exercise. "He takes a

good hold in his training, and here it's been no exception. He gets over it

good."

Eclipse Award-winning jockey Javier Castellano, currently

the nation's leading rider, will be back aboard General a Rod for the Preakness.

Joel Rosario rode him in the Kentucky Derby, in which he finished 11th after

being steadied early and late, but he was committed to Ride On Curlin for the

Preakness.

"(Castellano) rode him well in the Fountain of Youth," Maker said of the

close second behind Wildcat Red on February 22 at Gulfstream Park. "Anytime you can

get him, you've got to be pleased."

Castellano rode We Miss Artie to a 10th-place Derby finish,

but trainer Todd Pletcher elected to skip the Preakness.

Maker and the connections of General a Rod decided to

persevere in the Triple Crown series despite a troubled-trip 11th in the

Kentucky Derby.

"Obviously it's a prestigious race," Maker said of the Preakness. "We're not

here just because it's the Preakness. We have a lot of confidence in our horse,

but having said that, we've got to really step up and get a fair shake this

time."

Maker worked as an assistant to five-time Preakness-winning

trainer D. Wayne Lukas from 1993-2003 but wasn't present at Pimlico for the

three winners -- Tabasco Cat (1994), Timber Country (1995) and Charismatic (1999)

-- during that tenure.

"I usually stayed back in Louisville, but the last couple

years I came with him and got to see what it was like here," said Maker, who has

saddled horses in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, but not the Preakness

until now. "I figure I've been doing this long enough that I should have an

inclination by now. It might not be the right one, but we'll see."

The 45-year-old Michigan native went out on his own in 2004

and last spring saddled his 1,000th winner. He won 228 races and more than $8

million in purses last year.

Kid Cruz was sent to the Pimlico track early Wednesday morning for a 1 1/2-mile

gallop under exercise rider Reul Munoz as he continued his preparation for

Saturday's Preakness.

"He's fine, doing well and has settled into his new

surroundings well," said trainer Linda Rice, who arrived in the Baltimore area

later Wednesday morning and headed to the two-year-olds-in-training sale at nearby Timonium. "Everything's been pretty routine."

Named for New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz by

co-owner Black Swan's managing partner John Destefano Jr., Kid Cruz is the only member of

the 10-horse Preakness field with a race at Pimlico. The Lemon Drop Kid colt won the

April 19

Federico Tesio Stakes by 3 1/2 lengths in a small field of six

sophomores.

"That's definitely a plus," Rice said. "But these are much better horses, so

he'll have to step up quite a bit. We're excited to try it."

Rice's other concern centered on the weather and a

possibility of a less-than-fast track.

"He's never run in the mud," said Rice, who is preparing to

saddle her first Preakness runner. "He's trained well in the mud -- I mean

galloped well in the mud -- but I've never breezed (worked) him."

Kid Cruz has tasted defeat only once in

four dirt starts after a dismal debut on grass for then-trainer Bill Mott. He

was beaten less than a length in an Aqueduct innder-dirt allowance in his first start

after being claimed for $50,000 by Vina Del Mar and partners Steven Brandt of

Frederick, Maryland, and Richard Boylan. Destefano, a former trainer, subsequently

bought back into the colt he had named.

Rice is set to become the 15th woman to saddle a Preakness

contender. The late Nancy Alberts saddled 45-1 shot Magic Weisner for a

second-place finish behind War Emblem in the 2002 edition.

Ring Weekend galloped 1 5/8 miles under Alice Clapham Wednesday

morning at Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Maryland, ahead of Saturday's

Preakness.

After being gelded following a two-year-old campaign that

included a third-place finish on dirt and a third-place finish on a synthetic

track in three starts, the son of Tapit debuted with a sharp second-place finish

in a turf race at Gulfstream Park. Switched back to dirt, Ring Weekend broke his

maiden at Gulfstream and won the Tampa Bay Derby before finishing second in the

Calder Derby last out on April 5.

"I think he can do either (turf or dirt). When we made the

decision to try him back on the dirt after he ran so well at Gulfstream on turf,

it was that time of year," trainer Graham Motion said of the time of year when

everyone with a talented three-year-old starts thinking about the Triple Crown.

"Everything about his pedigree indicates he can handle the dirt. I think he's

one of those horses that can handle whichever."

Motion can be considered somewhat of an expert on horses

with the capability of racing on a variety of surfaces, having campaigned 2011

Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness runner-up Animal

Kingdom, who was an elite runner on dirt, turf and synthetic. Animal Kingdom

captured the world's richest race, the Dubai World Cup, over the all-weather

Tapeta at Meydan in 2013.

"A horse like Animal Kingdom had so much raw ability that

he could handle any surface. I think the really, really good ones can,"

Motion said.

Ring Weekend is scheduled to van to Pimlico Thursday

morning.

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