To date, Corona de Oro has displayed consistency and steady progress.
Now his connections hope for a leap ahead when he starts in the $2 million Preakness Stakes (G1) May 16 at Laurel Park.
The son of Bolt d'Oro placed in two of his first three maiden races and once he was stretched out to two turns for a March 7 maiden special weight race at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, he scored a front-end victory—putting away early rivals before drawing off to a 4 1/2-length victory.
Striking while the iron remained hot, trainer Dallas Stewart entered Corona de Oro in the Lexington Stakes (G3) April 11 at Keeneland. He again seized the early lead and carried that advantage into the stretch before yielding to winner Trendsetter and The Hell We Did. Trendsetter came back to run third in the Peter Pan Stakes (G3) May 9 at Aqueduct Racetrack while The Hell We Did is entered in the Preakness.
Corona de Oro held third in the Lexington to secure a placing in his first stake try.
"It was a pretty good effort," Stewart said. "He got a little bit tired; maybe we used him up a little early but he did pretty well."
Campaigned by a large partnership that includes Stewart, along with On Our Own Stable, Commonwealth Stable, U Racing Stables, Saints or Sinners, Titletown Racing, Jim Nichols, Edwin Barker, Daniel Rivers, and John Haines, Corona de Oro was entered as an also-eligible in the Kentucky Derby (G1). As it turned out, he would be the lone also-eligible of four not to draw into the race by the cutoff the morning before the Derby.
The other three horses from that Derby also-eligible list are all entered in the Preakness. The group includes maiden Ocelli, who ran third in the Derby; Robusta, who didn't get to show his early foot when bumped at the start on his way to a 14th-place finish; and Great White, who made it to the gate before problems there forced a late scratch. All four also-eligibles weren't initially in the field because their Kentucky Derby qualifying points fell short of others.
Stewart said he could kind of see that Corona de Oro wasn't going to make the Derby and began to prepare for the Preakness. He worked five furlongs in 1:00 1/5 Derby Day morning at Churchill Downs and then came back six days later with a move there at the same distance in :59 4/5 ahead of Saturday's Preakness.
"He's a nice horse. He's training well and has been taking it one step at a time," Stewart said, before later adding, "I think he's ready."
While this will be Corona de Oro's first start in Maryland, it's not his first trip to the state. David Berman of On Our Own Stable, U Racing Stables, and Commonwealth Stable went to $160,000 to land Corona de Oro at last year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, where he was consigned by Tom McCrocklin.
Bred in Kentucky by Willow Oaks Stable, Corona de Oro is out of stakes-placed Lemon de Oro by Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Lemon Drop Kid. Lemon de Oro's other foal to race, Golden Alchemist, also is a grade 3-placed winner.
In the Preakness, Corona de Oro for the first time will pick up the services of Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, who secured his first Preakness win in 2023 with National Treasure to end a run of "seconditis" that saw runner-up finishes on Authentic , Itsmyluckyday, and Animal Kingdom. He guided Sandman to a third-place finish last year.
Stewart is looking for his first Preakness win after runner-up finishes with Tale of Verve in 2015 and Macho Again in 2008.
