Winchell Thoroughbreds' Epicenter , the 6-5 morning-line favorite for the May 21 Preakness Stakes (G1), jogged a mile around Pimlico Race Course early May 18, his first morning in town after vanning from Louisville. Also getting a feel for the Maryland track for the first time Wednesday were Early Voting , Armagnac, and Creative Minister.
"He's traveling really well. It seems like his energy level is good," said Scott Blasi, assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen, who left the track early to watch horses work at The Midlantic Sale, Fasig-Tipton's 2-year-olds in training sale at Timonium. "He bounced out of the Derby with relative ease and made the ship fine. Just trying to get settled in and get our schooling done and run Saturday."
Blasi said Epicenter will school in the starting gate during training Thursday and will school in the paddock during the races.
Epicenter was also the favorite in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) off impressive victories in the Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby (G2) and Risen Star Stakes Presented by Lamarque Ford (G2). The son of Not This Time seemed home free in the Derby in deep stretch, only to have the late-running Rich Strike shoot past him on the rail to win by three-quarters of a length at odds of 80-1.
"The only way I can explain it is, it just wasn't meant to be," Blasi said, adding of the torrid pace that included the first-quarter mile in a Derby-record :21.78, "I don't think anybody saw those fractions coming the first three-quarters of a mile of the race. The race fell apart a little bit, as it should have. It just is what it is. If you don't learn to turn the page in this game, you're going to have a lot of sleepless nights.
"The Derby is an event, a 20-horse race under circumstances they'll never have to be in ever again. Just one of those things. First one to the wire wins, like Steve always says. Didn't happen... To be honest with you, it's over. There are no re-dos. There's one Derby a year. We were proud of our horse and how he ran. Congratulations to the winner."
Epicenter will break from post 8 in the Preakness, which Rich Strike is skipping.
"We absolutely love the horse," Blasi said. "He's extremely talented. We're lucky to have him. He's been very consistent in his training, very workmanlike, shows up and does his job. That's the great thing about horses like that, the consistency of them."
Early Voting Gallops
Klaravich Stables' Early Voting , the 7-2 choice on the Preakness morning line, made his first visit to the track at Pimlico Wednesday morning, a day after shipping in from trainer Chad Brown's stable at Belmont Park.
Brown's assistant Baldo Hernandez is overseeing the colt's activities until the trainer arrives Friday. With his regular exercise rider Marino Garcia up, Early Voting went out to the track at 8:30 a.m. ET, following the renovation break.
"He galloped a mile and a quarter. I was really happy with him coming home," Hernandez said. "He likes it here, so he's in good shape."
The Preakness will be Early Voting's first start away from Aqueduct Racetrack, where he broke his maiden, won the Withers (G3), and finished second by a neck in the Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino (G2). Brown and Klaravich owner Seth Klarman opted to skip the Kentucky Derby to focus on the Preakness, which they won in 2017 with Cloud Computing using the same script.
"He's moved forward from the Wood. He got the time off," Hernandez said. "He's in good shape."
Armagnac Enters off Confidence-Builder
Fresh off a cross-country trip from Southern California that saw him arrive in Baltimore Tuesday evening, Armagnac hit the ground running Wednesday.
The son of Quality Road made his first appearance at Pimlico just after 8:30 Wednesday morning, galloping about a mile for trainer Tim Yakteen.
"Just an easy gallop," Yakteen said. "He traveled well. He looked good out there. They all look good out there."
Armagnac, owned by SF Racing and partners, last ran May 8, winning an allowance optional claiming race at Santa Anita Park. It was the best performance of his five-race career. Armagnac went gate to wire in the 1 1/16-mile race that followed a fourth-place finish in the April 9 Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1), 12 1/2 lengths behind stablemate Taiba . Second in that race was Messier , also trained by Yakteen. The three horses were transferred to the former assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert while that conditioner serves a regulatory suspension for the post-race betamethasone positive of Medina Spirit in the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Happy Jack, another Preakness entrant, was third, a neck in front of Armagnac.
The decision to ship to Baltimore came after the allowance score.
"We were able to drop him down in competition and just get him set up with a field that would be sort of a confidence booster for him," Yakteen said. "I think we accomplished that. He broke away with a clean break and got into a nice little rhythm."
Creative Minister Feeling Good
Fern Circle Stables, Back Racing, and Magdalena Racing's allowance optional claiming winner Creative Minister was feeling good Wednesday in his first visit to the track.
Supplemented to the Preakness for a $150,000 fee, the Creative Cause colt will make his stakes debut in the Preakness off back-to-back scores in maiden and allowance company for trainer Kenny McPeek.
McPeek, who won the COVID-delayed 2020 Preakness with the filly Swiss Skydiver over Kentucky Derby winner and eventual Horse of the Year Authentic , is scheduled to be at Pimlico Thursday morning. In the meantime, exercise rider Danny Ramsey oversaw Creative Minister's first day of training at Pimlico after vanning from Louisville on Tuesday.
Ramsey had planned to take Creative Minister to the track right after the mid-morning renovation break. But the horse had other ideas.
"He was jumping around," Ramsey said. "I walked him this morning because he was feeling so good. I walked him 35, close to 40 minutes. I thought that would settle him down a bit. And bam. He started jumping and feeling good, so I said to the groom, 'Let's put the saddle on him and take him to the track.'
"It's typical of him. I gallop him at Churchill, and he's jumping around and feeling good. I thought the trip might have settled him down a little bit," he added. "The trip didn't take anything out of him."
"We've just been seeing how he's progressing," said co-owner Greg Back. "He ran that incredible race in the allowance, and Kenny said, 'This horse has as much talent as my other stakes horses. If you guys want to go, we can go.' I mean, the (Equibase) speed figure did everything for me (after his May 7 allowance victory). I knew he was a talented horse. But when you start running a 108, you can compete with anybody."
Happy Jack, Fenwick Settle In
Calumet Farm's Happy Jack, 30-1 on the Preakness morning line, arrived at Pimlico at 4:00 a.m. Wednesday after leaving Churchill Downs at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Included in the travel party was Sabas Rivera, a barn foreman for trainer Doug O'Neill.
"He is tired right now," Rivera said. "He is taking a little siesta. He is a good shipper. He doesn't really care about anything. It doesn't bother him if he's here or there. Just nice and quiet."
Rivera said the Calumet homebred will hit the Pimlico track Thursday at about 6:30 a.m.
Happy Jack finished 14th in the Run for the Roses, his fourth straight loss since breaking his maiden Jan. 22 at Santa Anita Park. The Derby was the first race for the colt outside of California. In the Preakness, trainer Doug O'Neill will put the blinkers back on Happy Jack. He had worn them in three of his first four starts before O'Neill took them off for the Derby.
O'Neill said he is scheduled to fly to Baltimore from California Wednesday night and will be at the barn some time Thursday afternoon.
Also settling in at Pimlico Wednesday was Fenwick, a 50-1 shot on the Preakness morning line. The Curlin colt is coming off an 11th-place finish in the April 9 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) at Keeneland for Villa Rosa Farm and Harlo Stable. Trainer Kevin McKathan said Fenwick will train Thursday at 6:00 a.m.
