William Donald Schaefer

TRACK BANDIT PREVIEWS

Seven older horses will contest the $100,000 William Donald Schaefer S. (G3)

on the Preakness S. (G1) undercard, and we'll look for some value with CRIMSON

COMIC (Distorted Humor), who is listed at an attractive 10-1 on the morning

line. A solid fourth versus stakes rivals in a turf stakes at Pimlico last out,

the chestnut has been showing much better class at four this year for Mark

Shuman and owns plenty of speed in a field that is lacking front runners. We

expect him to hustle to the front under Edgar Prado and lead all the way.

EA (Dynaformer) exits a good second in the Charles Town Classic for Tom

Albertrani, and the five-year-old gelding is in career-best form, recording a

win and a close second in his two previous starts at Gulfstream Park. The

stalker figures to enjoy a good trip from post 3, and we like the 102 BRIS Speed

rating he earned last time. He looks like a serious threat with Javier

Castellano.

REAL MERCHANT (Chi) (Merchant of Venice) will enter on the upswing for

conditioner Seth Benzel, posting a 109 BRIS Speed rating last time and a 103 three

starts back, and the five-year-old is a strong finisher. The race may not set up

well for his late run, but Real Merchant still appears capable of making his

presence felt in the stretch.

Grade 3 hero READY SET (Touch Gold) was a little short off the layoff last

time versus allowance rivals at Delaware Park, but he's run well at 8 1/2

furlongs (8-3-3-1) and is eligible to move forward in his second start at four.

Trained by the ever-dangerous Michael Matz, the morning-line favorite could be a

little overbet in this spot, and we'll try to beat to him for the win. However,

we'll still use him on the bottom of some exotics.

RICHARD'S KID (Lemon Drop Kid) will look to pick up the pieces in his Pimlico

debut, but the late runner is carrying a lot of weight (124) and may prefer a

little more ground. CAVE'S VALLEY (Stephen Got Even) could show speed from the rail under Jeremy

Rose, but we feel the four-year-old colt probably needs an easier spot to be

effective. NO ADVANTAGE (Posse) is probably better in one-turn events.