Preakness News & Notes

Ocelli, Third in Kentucky Derby, Possible for Preakness
Golden Tempo ‘Doing Great,’ Preakness Decision Upcoming
Connections Thinking About Preakness for Corona de Oro
The Hell We Did Enjoying Laurel Life, Next Work Saturday
Asmussen Thrilled for Stallion Curlin to Sweep Triple Crown

LAUREL, MD – Ashley Durr, Anthony Tate and Front Page Equestrian’s Ocelli, third in the Kentucky Derby (G1) as a maiden and the biggest longshot in the field of 18 at odds of 70-1, is now under consideration for the 151st Preakness Stakes (G1) May 16 at Laurel Park.

Trainer Whit Beckman on Tuesday upgraded Ocelli’s likelihood for the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown from “extremely unlikely” on Sunday to “maybe.”

“If you look at it from a pace perspective, it could go as fast as the Derby,” Beckman said, referencing a scenario that would help a closer such as Ocelli. “He’s doing great. That’s the only reason I’m saying ‘yeah, maybe.’ The horse is doing fantastic. The horse is made of iron. Generally, I run a horse, they may not come to the front of their stall for a week. He was right there.”

Asked if there was any downside to running Ocelli in the Preakness, he said, “The only downside is if the horse is not ready to do it.” He noted that the Preakness winner usually is a horse that ran two weeks earlier in the Derby.

The upside, Beckman said, “is the chance to win a Triple Crown race.”

Ocelli came into the Derby winless in six starts, with a second and three thirds, capped by his third place in the Wood Memorial (G2) April 4 at Aqueduct. But Beckman did not consider him a “maiden.”

“Nobody said it to my face, but I’m sure people were thinking, ‘How stupid is this guy putting in a maiden?’” Beckman said. “But they don’t get to see what I see every day. They don’t get to see a horse that wants more and more and more, that trains like an absolute terror. I think the thing we always miss is the development of these 3-year-olds. You don’t know who is going to be the best 3-year-old on the first Saturday in May, in comparison to horses rounding into form in March and April.”

In the Derby, Ocelli stuck his head in front at the sixteenth pole before grudgingly giving way to Golden Tempo and Renegade.

“When he was coming around the turn and just picking up horses real easily … when he passed Danon Bourbon [who took the lead on the far turn], I was watching in the paddock and you couldn’t see the outside horses,” Beckman said. “That was about the longest two seconds of my life, where my breath just stopped and I thought, ‘He can get there!’ Then reality caught up to us. It wasn’t even a whole length, I don’t think.”

Bodexpress in 2019 was the last maiden to enter the Preakness, though he dumped Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez leaving the starting gate and ran the entire race riderless before being caught by an outrider. The most recent maiden to win the Preakness was Refund in 1888, one of six maiden Preakness winners prior to 1900.

Golden Tempo ‘Doing Great,’ Preakness Decision Upcoming

Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Golden Tempo had his third walk day Tuesday and will return to the track for light training Wednesday at Keeneland. Trainer Cherie DeVaux, speaking at a media availability arranged by Keeneland’s communications department, reiterated that the Preakness decision will be made toward the end of the week.

“He’s doing great,” said DeVaux, whose main base is at Keeneland’s year-round Rice Road stabling area. “He’ll return to the track tomorrow for a light jog. He’ll do that for two days, and then he’ll resume galloping.”

As far as running in the 1 3/16-mile Preakness at Laurel Park, she said, “We’re going to see how much energy he has when he’s on the track, see how he’s moving, see his attitude and things of that nature…. I appreciate there’s history with the Triple Crown. I appreciate everyone is excited about it. However, the horse comes first. So, any of that pressure is outside information from our decision-making.”

The Hell We Did Enjoying Laurel Life, Next Work Saturday

Peacock Family Racing Stable homebred The Hell We Did continues to enjoy his new digs at Laurel Park since arriving from Kentucky April 28 ahead of his scheduled next start in the 151st Preakness Stakes (G1) May 16.

“Everything with him is good,” trainer Todd Fincher said of the April 11 Lexington (G3) runner-up that is being overseen by his assistant and exercise rider Oscar Rojero until Fincher’s arrival Friday evening. “He obviously traveled really well, so we’re very happy with that.”

Fincher plans to be on hand for The Hell We Did’s final Preakness work Saturday. The son of 2020 Kentucky Derby (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) winner, Preakness runner-up and Horse of the Year Authentic went five furlongs over Laurel’s main track in 1:00.60 May 2.

“He had a good work and he came back good and is eating everything,” Fincher said. “He scoped good, so everything is on schedule for his next work Saturday.”

The Preakness will be the fifth start at as many racetracks for The Hell We Did, who won his maiden last fall at Remington Park and beat older horses in an open allowance March 15 at Sunland Park. Also second in the Zia Park Derby, The Hell We Did made his two-turn debut in the 1 1/16-mile Lexington at Keeneland.

Following back-to-back walk days out of his work, The Hell We Did returned to the track Tuesday.

“Unfortunately, they had the track closed yesterday so he had to walk two days in a row,” Fincher said, “but he went back to the track today and is doing really good.”

Connections Thinking About Preakness for Corona de Oro

Grade 3-placed Corona de Oro, excluded from the Kentucky Derby (G1) as the lone remaining also-eligible, is under consideration for the 151st Preakness Stakes (G1) May 16 at Laurel Park according to trainer and co-owner Dallas Stewart.

“We’re thinking about it. We just have to see,” Stewart said. “I’m going to work him again Saturday. He’s a very nice horse.”

David Berman of U Racing Stables purchased Corona de Oro for $160,000 out of Fasig-Tipton’s Midlantic auction of 2-year-olds in training last spring. The sale takes place the week after the Preakness at the Timonium, Md. Fairgrounds.

Corona de Oro’s owners also include On Our Own Stable, Commonwealth Stable, Saints or Sinners, Titletown Racing, Jim Nichols, Edwin Barker, Daniel Rivers and John Haines.

By three-time Grade 1-winning millionaire Bolt d’Oro, who ran 12th in the 2018 Kentucky Derby, Corona de Oro most recently finished third as the third betting choice of nine horses in the April 11 Lexington (G3) at Keeneland.

The 32-1 upset winner of the Lexington, Trendsetter, is entered in Saturday’s Peter Pan (G3) at Aqueduct while runner-up The Hell We Did arrived at Laurel April 28 to prep for the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.

“He’s a nice horse, and he’s developing nicely,” Stewart said. “He really hits me good. I like the horse. We’ll see who’s running and try to figure it out.”

Corona de Oro was fourth on the also-eligible list for the Kentucky Derby, which saw Great White, Ocelli and Robusta draw in following scratches. Corona de Oro did not get in when The Puma was withdrawn because he was ruled out less than 12 hours before post time, past the deadline for those on the waiting list, leaving the field one short of its 20-horse maximum.

It wound up two short when Great White reared up and flipped while being loaded in the starting gate, and was scratched. Of the other late additions, Ocelli finished third at 70-1 and has not been ruled out of Preakness contention, and Robusta finished 14th.

Based at Churchill Downs, Corona de Oro has breezed twice since the Lexington including a sharp five-furlong piece of work in 1:00.20 on Derby Day, May 2, second-fastest of 14 horses.

“He’s good and healthy. It’s just one step at a time,” Stewart said. “We missed the Derby, and I’m OK with that. We were like anybody else. You just hope to get into the Derby. It didn’t work out. It just wasn’t meant to be, so we’ll move on.”

Asmussen Thrilled for Stallion Curlin to Sweep Triple Crown

Chip Honcho, fifth in the Louisiana Derby (G2) in which Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Golden Tempo was third, worked five-eighths of a mile on Derby morning in 1:00, the fastest of 14 timed works at that distance in preparation for the 151st Preakness Stakes (G1) May 16 at Laurel Park.

While Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen was happy with the work, he really was thrilled that two-time Horse of the Year and 2014 Hall of Famer Curlin – the 2007 Preakness winner – completed his own Triple Crown as a stallion. Curlin sired 2010 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Palace Malice in his first foal crop and 2013 Preakness winner Exaggerator.

Chip Honcho faced Golden Tempo three times over the winter at the Fair Grounds. After a victory in the $100,000 Gun Runner – named for another Asmussen-trained Hall of Famer – Chip Honcho was fourth by a total of 1 3/4 lengths in the Lecomte (G3), won by Golden Tempo.

Following that race Chip Honcho was a close second to the now-sidelined Paladin in the Risen Star (G2), with Golden Tempo another 5 1/2 lengths back in third, prior to the Louisiana Derby. After that race, Asmussen opted to skip the Kentucky Derby to point to the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.

Pleased with the way Chip Honcho went in his work, Asmussen thrilled with the outcome of the Derby given that Chip Honcho had beaten and been competitive with Golden Tempo.

“I’m extremely happy with the results of the Derby,” he said. “Curlin finally got his Derby done, which is unbelievable. The horse that was second [Renegade] is out of a Curlin mare and the horse that was third is by Connect, who’s by Curlin. It was a Curlin Derby.”

Chip Honcho is also a son of Connect. The $210,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July 2024 yearling purchase races for Leland Ackerley Racing, James Sherwood, Jode Shupe and John Cilia.

Asmussen also won the Preakness in 2009 with Hall of Fame filly Rachel Alexandra, who was making the first start for her new barn after being sold to late wine magnate Jess Jackson following a 20 ¼-length victory in the Kentucky Oaks (G1).

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