Preakness Has Less Crowd, More Performance

BALTIMORE, May 10 -- In the dusty, hallowed halls of horse racing tradition, the comment would be akin to sacrilege, so when a well-placed Maryland Jockey Club employee said recently with smug superiority, "The Kentucky Derby is just a prep race for the Preakness," he asked not to be identified.

Whether this was simply a case of 'My Triple Crown race is better than Your Triple Crown race' or something more is open to conjecture. But, clearly, a different feeling pervades the second leg of the ultimate series in racing.

The Preakness is less Americana than the Kentucky Derby and possibly more horse race. For followers of the sport, the Derby is filled with months of speculation. The horses reach Louisville having traveled widely differing paths, and even those that have been impressive in events leading up to the race often haven't made believers of the skeptics.

Even when a great horse is present, it still feels like a bit of a crap shoot. Smarty Jones went into the Kentucky Derby undefeated, but only one handicapper in the Daily Racing Form picked him to win the race.

Also, the Kentucky Derby has so many horses in it -- usually more than 15 -- that an auxiliary gate is needed at the start. To the untrained eye, the most recent edition looked simply like Smarty Jones chasing and running down leader Lion Heart to win. An examination of the comments in the official chart, however, shows the race played out more like a pinball game called "Cavalry Charge":

• Imperialism (third): "Bumped and steadied in traffic at the seven-eighths pole. . . . "

• Limehouse (fourth): " . . . was shuffled back a bit along the inside on the first turn . . . "

• Read the Footnotes (seventh): "Steadied in traffic between horses on the first turn . . . steadied in traffic on the far turn . . . "

• Birdstone (eighth): "Was pinched back a bit at the start then steadied in traffic in the early stages."

That doesn't include the two shoes fifth-place finisher The Cliff's Edge lost during the race.

So, by the time the horses arrive in Baltimore, both fans and trainers have a much better idea which horses are fastest, which have legitimate excuses and which ones were just pretenders in the Kentucky Derby.

"In the Preakness, there's not 20 horses. That part there limits something. So, the positioning should be easier for everyone," said trainer Nick Zito, who will try to get a better run out of The Cliff's Edge in the Preakness. "So, the point about the cavalry charge is well said."

Zito believes a lot of trainers and owners try to convince themselves they have Derby horses when often they don't. When a Derby loser shows up for the Preakness, instead of going to the sidelines to await an easier race, it usually means the trainer remains convinced he has a superior runner and that the excuse for losing at Churchill Downs was valid, Zito said.

"You have to regroup, focus and stay the course," he said. "That's your best chance. That's what I think works."