Booklet’s trainer believes Saturday’s Preakness “is going to be like the Indy 500 going into the first turn.”
“Everybody will be gunning for the Kentucky Derby winner,” said John Ward, who will saddle a colt who seemingly has the horsepower for a torrid early speed duel with War Emblem at Pimlico Race Course that could derail the Derby winner’s bid for the Triple Crown.
D. Wayne Lukas, who will send out Derby runner-up Proud Citizen and Triple Crown newcomer Table Limit, thinks challenging War Emblem for the lead is easier said than done.
“It’s one thing to say, `Go after him,'” Lukas said. “But if you don’t have a horse with a turn of foot, you can’t go after him.”
In the opinion of fellow trainer Nick Zito, who will give Crimson Hero and Straight Gin their first taste of Triple Crown competition, it’s foolish to fixate on War Emblem or, for that matter, any of the other horses in the 13/16-mile classic.
“You can’t worry about what this guy or what that guy is going to do,” Zito said. “You do the best you can in preparing for the race, and you want your jockey to try to put your horse in a position to do what he does best.”
Ward had some words of warning: “You better not be back leaving the gate. You better not be too far out of the game down the backside. You better not be giving up position down the backside.
“Pimlico is a difficult racetrack. It’s unique because it’s pretty much uphill through the stretch. Down the backside it’s extremely fast. You have kind of a downhill run from the three-eighths pole to the top of the stretch. Older racetracks were built with a certain amount of undulation to them so they could drain. That’s the reason they’re uphill and downhill a little bit. Modern racetracks are perfectly level with banked turns because there are underground drainage systems.”
Christmas in April: Prince Ahmed Salman acquired a 90 percent interest in War Emblem from Chicagoan Russell Reineman for $900,000 after the colt’s compelling victory in the April 6 Illinois Derby at Sportsman’s Park and turned him over to Bob Baffert to train. Baffert won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness with Silver Charm in 1997 and Real Quiet in 1998 and last year’s Preakness and Belmont with Point Given.
“The most pertinent thing with War Emblem is when Bob’s exercise rider, Dana Barnes, came back and told Bob that this horse was as good as any he ever had,” Ward said. “That had to be like the biggest Christmas present that Bob ever had.
“The real good exercise riders like Dana and my wife [and assistant trainer], Donna, have the feel. They can size up a horse in a breeze, while all we trainers can do is stand there and watch. They just know what the feel is–it’s like getting out of a Ford and into a Jaguar. It’s such an advantage to have somebody like that.”
Matchmaker: At the backstretch Friday, Ward introduced Baffert to Charles Nuckols, the Kentucky horse farmer who is the breeder of record of the mares retired by Reineman and made the match between the stallion Our Emblem and the broodmare Sweetest Lady that produced War Emblem.
“Unfortunately, Sweetest Lady died last summer when she was in foal to Distorted Honor,” Nuckols said.
War Emblem’s sire, meanwhile, moved from Kentucky to Maryland last fall after he was bought from Claiborne Farm by Allen and Audrey Murray, the owners of Murmur Farm, for a rumored $40,000. Claiborne considered Our Emblem expendable when only three of his offspring won as 2-year-olds.
Now Our Emblem is in great demand. In the wake of War Emblem’s Kentucky Derby victory, the Murrays turned down a $4.5 million offer for the stud.
Black-Eyed Susan: Heavy favorite Camrousse won the $200,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths Friday at Pimlico over Shop Till You Drop. She was the 3-5 choice in the Grade II race for 3-year-old fillies. She covered the 11/8 miles in 1 minute 51.61 seconds. Autumn Creek was third.
