Preakness News & Notes

Jockey Junior Alvarado Confirmed to Ride Crupper in Preakness
Preakness Decision for Golden Tempo Coming by Week’s End
Fine After Fall, Great White Preakness-Bound Pending Work
Talk to Me Jimmy Works Monday in NY, Preakness Still in Mix
Asmussen Thrilled for Stallion Curlin to Sweep Triple Crown
G2 Black-Eyed Susan Next for Kentucky Oaks Scratch Nycon

LAUREL, MD – As the 151st Preakness Stakes (G1) field continues to take shape, Robert Zoellner’s homebred stakes winner Crupper is a go with 2025 Kentucky Derby (G1) and Horse of the Year-winning jockey Junior Alvarado to ride.

Trainer Donnie K. Von Hemel said that he confirmed the Preakness commitment Monday morning. Alvarado rode Crupper in Oaklawn Park’s April 18 Bathhouse Row, a victory that gave Crupper a free entry in the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown to be held this year at Laurel Park.

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott chose to bypass the Preakness with Chief Wallabee, who finished fourth in the Kentucky Derby, making Alvarado available.

“I talked to them this morning,” Von Hemel said. “Since Bill’s not going, that’s what we were waiting on.”

After finishing sixth in his debut sprinting last fall at Churchill Downs, Crupper has improved each start racing around two turns. He won a 1 1/16-mile Oaklawn Park maiden race at 16-1 odds in his third start in Arkansas, which also was the first time he competed in blinkers. That was followed by a good third in an allowance race, which preceded his victory in the 1 1/8-mile Bathhouse Row with Alvarado up.

“His family is typical two-turn horses. They get better with age,” Von Hemel said. “I think he’s moved forward this spring. I wanted to run him a mile and an eighth. His mother [She’s All In] was second to Royal Delta going a mile and a quarter in the [2013] Delaware Handicap [G1]. So the farther you go, the better you feel about him. To go a mile and an eighth, we had to run in the Bathhouse Row. It worked out that way, and he ran a big race.

“By the time he turned down the backside, he was in front, not by much. In all his previous races, he never ran out of gas. It was like, ‘Why didn’t we get more forward? Then you don’t have to try to catch them,’” he added. “He never really showed a big, explosive move or anything. He just kept running. From the post position [seven of eight] we had in the Bathhouse, we felt ee could let him run away from there and into the first turn. It turned out the horse that was inside kind of backed off a little bit, then the horse on the outside of him backed off a little bit and he ended up in front — and stayed there.”

Crupper, by Candy Ride, had a sparkling five-eighths of a mile workout in 59.80 seconds May 1 at Trackside, Churchill Downs’ satellite training center.

“He came out of the race in good shape, moved up here the next day or maybe two days,” Von Hemel said. “He always eats well and continues to eat well. Good energy on the racetrack. Worked in 59-and-change last weekend. These are all good things.”

Asked about a final timed workout, he said, “If I do something, it won’t be anything very serious.”

Crupper will probably leave Louisville for Maryland on Tuesday, May 12, Von Hemel said.

Von Hemel, who is from a prominent family of trainers, has had one prior Preakness starter, with Our Gatsby finishing seventh in the 1995 race won by the D. Wayne Lukas-trained Timber County. His limited experience with Laurel Park is running $1.38 million-earner Clever Trevor in the 1991 Frank J. DeFrancis Memorial Dash, finishing second in a race won by champion Housebuster, while defeating another Hall of Fame sprinter in third-place Safely Kept.

This will be Zoellner’s first time in a Triple Crown race, Von Hemel said.

Preakness Decision for Golden Tempo Coming by Week’s End

Cherie DeVaux, the first female trainer to win the Kentucky Derby (G1) with Golden Tempo’s upset victory Saturday, told NBC’s Today Show Monday that a decision whether to run in the 151st Preakness Stakes (G1) May 16 at Laurel Park should be made by the end of the week.

Golden Tempo shipped back to DeVaux’s main base at Keeneland late Sunday morning. He had a scheduled walk day Monday morning.

Meanwhile, NBC flew DeVaux to New York Sunday for her early Monday appearance on the Today Show. Asked about the Preakness, DeVaux said: “We’ll just have to see how he comes out of the race. He gets a couple of easy days. He’s probably snoozing right now. We’ll try to make a decision by the end of the week.”

Fine After Fall, Great White Preakness-Bound Pending Work

Trainer John Ennis said Great White – who reared up and fell before he was loaded into the starting gate for the Kentucky Derby (G1), becoming a late scratch – came out of the mishap without as much as a scratch and is a strong possibility to run in the 151st Preakness Stakes (G1).

“I’ve taken worse falls out of bed,” Ennis quipped by phone Monday.

Regular rider Alex Achard, who also escaped injury in the incident, has the mount.

Ennis said Great White will work an easy half-mile Saturday at the trainer’s home base, Keeneland-owned The Thoroughbred Center in Lexington, Ky.

He said the massive, good-feeling gray gelding rears when he’s feeling good but always comes back down on his feet.

“When he reared up, the pony rider pulled against him and he just turned him over,” Ennis said. “He’ll do that. He’ll rear up, but he never falls over. So when he runs next time, he won’t go with the pony. He’ll be fine. He doesn’t need a pony. He’s a very good boy.

“Straight after when he fell over, we brought him back to the barn, gave him a bath and took him out for grass. He was fresh, like he wanted to run,” he added. “Yesterday we took him out for a roll. He rolled and got up bucking and squealing and everything. He’s not tired. He’s ready to go. He jogged two miles this morning perfect. We’ll train him all week and breeze him Saturday. And if he breezes good and I’m happy with him, he’ll have an entry in the Preakness.”

Ennis felt Great White’s late-running style, which he plans to utilize in the Preakness, is not unlike that of Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo.

“The way we were going to ride my horse Saturday [in the Derby], we were going to take our time, ride him in the back of the pack,” he said. “Nobody knows, but the way he was training at Churchill, this horse would have run good. He’s a nice horse.”

Great White finished fifth in the April 4 Blue Grass (G1) at Keeneland in his last start, his first race on dirt where he found himself uncharacteristically on the early lead. His first three starts were over Turfway Park’s synthetic surface, including a victory in the 1 1/16-mile John Battaglia Memorial Feb. 21.

Talk to Me Jimmy Works Monday in NY, Preakness Still in Mix

The 151st Preakness Stakes (G1) May 16 at Laurel Park remains a possibility for New York-bred Withers winner Talk to Me Jimmy, who is entered in Saturday’s Peter Pan (G3) at Aqueduct.

“You can say that. We haven’t made the final decision yet. We’re looking at the races and see what they look like and try to make the best decision for the horse,” trainer and co-owner Rudy Rodriguez said. “The owner is going to make the decision in the next couple of days.”

SEI Thoroughbreds (Dustin Pusatere), Rodriguez and Michael Imperio’s Talk to Me Jimmy breezed four furlongs in 49 seconds over the Belmont Park training track Monday. It was his third work since finishing eighth, beaten 4 ½ lengths, in the April 4 Wood Memorial (G2) at Aqueduct.

“He’s been putting things together. Everything is good,” Rodriguez said. “We want to keep everything going that way. He’s doing good right now, and we’re very happy with him.”

By multiple graded-stakes winner Modernist out of the of the 10-time winning Trippi mare Prairie Trip, Talk to Me Jimmy has raced exclusively at Aqueduct. He graduated second time out last fall and captured the 1 1/8-mile Withers by 11 lengths Feb. 6 in his season and two-turn debut.

The runner-up, Grittiness, came back to be second behind sixth-place Kentucky Derby (G1) finisher Incredibolt in the March 14 Virginia Derby.

Talk to Me Jimmy drew Post 5 in a field of six for the 1 1/8-mile Peter Pan led by Trendsetter, 32-1 upset winner of the April 11 Lexington (G3) at Keeneland. The second and third-place finishers from that race, The Hell We Did and Corona De Oro, are also among more than a dozen horses pointing to the 1 3/16-mile Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.

“We want to keep him fresh. We don’t want to squeeze everything out of him yet,” Rodriguez said. “Maybe this summer we can take him to the Haskell and see what we have. He’s a New York-bred, so we have the New York Derby, too. We have a lot of options with him.”

Rodriguez has trained one previous Triple Crown race starter, Vyjack, who ran 18th in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and eighth in the Belmont Stakes (G1) in 2013.

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).

G2 Black-Eyed Susan Next for Kentucky Oaks Scratch Nycon

Saying he’d “still leave room for an audible,” trainer Whit Beckman termed the 151st Preakness Stakes (G1) unlikely for Kentucky Derby (G1) third-place finisher Ocelli but he does plan to have a presence on the weekend.

Beckman said he expects to run Nycon in the $300,000 George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan (G2) for 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/8 miles on Preakness Eve, May 15, at Laurel Park.

Beckman said the original plan was to run in the Black-Eyed Susan and he never even considered entering his filly in the Oaks, but that changed when told by the Churchill Downs racing office that Nycon would the first or second also-eligible.

Nycon wound up drawing into the Oaks, but Beckman decided to bypass the race after checking on the filly.

“There were just some things we didn’t love the morning of [the race]. It wasn’t anything serious,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with her. She’s [went] out to train [Sunday] morning. You have to consider the Black-Eyed Susan. That was a really strong group of Oaks fillies. I don’t think she doesn’t belong, but hopefully in this next start at [Laurel] she can show where I’ve always seen her talent level to be and figure out a summer campaign.”

Nycon finished fourth in the April 4 Gazelle (G3) at Aqueduct, beaten 10 lengths by subsequent Kentucky Oaks winner Always a Runner.