Shackleford settles back in at Churchill, '50-50' for Belmont

Mike Lauffer and Bill Cubbedge's homebred SHACKLEFORD (Forestry)

returned to Churchill Downs just before 10:30 a.m. (EDT) Sunday morning

following a flight from Baltimore.

On Saturday, the chestnut triumphed by a half-length over Kentucky

Derby (G1) winner Animal Kingdom (Leroidesanimaux [Brz]) in Pimlico's

Preakness S. (G1), the second jewel of the Triple Crown.

Returning with Shackleford to trainer Dale Romans' Barn 4 was Donegal

Racing's Paddy O'Prado (El Prado [Ire]), who won Pimlico's Dixie H. (G2)

in the race preceding the Preakness.

"It was awesome. He ran a heck of a race," Romans said by telephone

from Baltimore.

Romans himself returned to the Pimlico Preakness Stakes Barn shortly after 7:30

a.m. Sunday with trays of Starbucks drinks for media members who arrived for

updates on Shackleford.

It was a generous gesture by the Kentucky-based trainer and a

way to share some of a $50,000 bonus he collected from MI Developments'

Preakness 5.5 Saturday. Owners Michael Lauffer and William Cubbedge will share a

$500,000 bonus on top of the $600,000 winner's purse, courtesy of the MID's

incentive program that rewarded the Preakness winner's participation in the

major three-year-old stakes at Gulfstream Park, a sister track to Pimlico.

"I went to bed for an hour or two," Romans said looking a bit

bedraggled behind sunglasses on a sunny Sunday morning. "I don't know how Todd

Pletcher and Wayne Lukas do it. They look so pristine all the time. I walk out

of my house to my car and I'm sweating and wrinkled and my shirttail's out.

(Assistant racing secretary) Dan

Bork at Churchill Downs said I was the best at

making an expensive suit look cheap."

"A lot of the people in the barn watched it (the Preakness) back

here," said Baldemar Bahena, Romans' Churchill Downs assistant. "I was

watching it over on the other side because we had had a horse in the

10TH race."

A Triple Crown bid is no longer possible for this year, but

Shackleford could still go on to the third jewel of the Triple Crown,

the June 11 Belmont S. (G1).

"I thought last night of going onto Belmont right away," the

44-year-old Romans admitted. "But I wanted to send him back to Kentucky so

we'll get him with his regular team, go over him, watch him train a couple days

and then make the decision.

"Ultimately it will be Mike's (Lauffer) call, but

he'll let me have a lot of input, I'm sure. If he trains like he did going into

the Derby, I don't know why we would pass (on running in the Belmont). I think it's better than 50-50."

"These three races are a lot different from the Dubai World Cup

(UAE-G1) or even the Breeders' Cup," said Cooper, a jock's agent for the

past 25 years. "Those races are nice, but these races are the ones

people talk about."

Cooper, who took out his trainer's license in 1966 and trained for 19 years,

had Mark Guidry's book for 14 years, Rene Douglas for seven years and Shaun

Bridgmohan for two years before hooking up with Castanon in September 2009.

Castanon got aboard Shackleford for the first time on February 5 in an

allowance at Gulfstream Park, and the result was a 2 1/4-length victory. The

partnership continued from there, resulting in a fifth-place run in the Fountain

of Youth S. (G2), a head second in the Florida Derby, a fourth in the

Kentucky Derby and Saturday's score in the Preakness.

"We got on him in Florida and they just clicked," Cooper said. "Jesus has a

lot of confidence in him."

In the Preakness, Shackleford stalked the pace set by Flashpoint (Pomeroy)

before moving to the lead at the head of the lane. He just held off the late run

of Animal Kingdom by a half-length

on the wire to record his first stakes victory.