Preakness Stakes Becomes a Fall Classic

For the sixth time since 1997, trainer Bob Baffert arrived in Baltimore this week with a Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) winner in tow. 

Each of the five times before, Baffert's Run for the Roses hero also won the Preakness Stakes (G1) and then headed to Belmont Park to take a swing at becoming a Triple Crown champion.

Yet seeing Baffert on all-too-familiar ground at Pimlico Race Course for the Oct. 3 Preakness is one of the few constants from past editions of the 145-year-old classic in an ever-changing world gripped by COVID-19.

There will be no fans or a raucous InfieldFest.

Even Baffert's name is different.

"Just call me Jim Bob Baffert this time," he said.

That change has nothing to do with being below the Mason-Dixon Line and everything to do with the absence of Baffert's right-hand aide and traveling man, assistant trainer Jim Barnes, who spent this week in California after suffering a broken wrist when Thousand Words reared and fell while being saddled at the Kentucky Derby.

"I have to do Jim's work and my work this week," Baffert said. "I'm hoping he'll be OK for the Breeders' Cup. He just has to be careful."

That work, which was performed well enough in the past that Baffert is eyeing a record-breaking eighth Preakness win with Kentucky Derby winner Authentic and Thousand Words, is almost completely different this year.

Though the Preakness will still be contested at 1 3/16 miles, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on racing schedules in the spring led to the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) being shortened to a 1 1/8-mile race June 20 and the Kentucky Derby shifted from the first Saturday in May to the first Saturday in September.

In response, the Preakness took refuge in an Oct. 3 date—with no fans and a limited number of owners in attendance—to close the Triple Crown.

When Authentic beat Belmont Stakes champ Tiz the Law in the Kentucky Derby, it ended the exciting hope of a Preakness that would decide if there would be a 14th Triple Crown winner. The decision by Tiz the Law's camp to skip the Preakness and await the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) then eliminated the hope of an encore in Baltimore for the top two finishers in the Run for the Roses. 

Yet the alluring combination of a $1 million purse, black type in a Triple Crown race, a free Breeders' Cup Challenge spot in the Classic, and a final opportunity to run in a major dirt race strictly against 3-year-olds combined to bring out a strong field of 11 for the Preakness, including grade 1-winning filly Swiss Skydiver, who will try to emulate Rachel Alexandra's heroics in 2009.

"My horses are doing good, but I watched the other horses in the race train and everybody is looking good," Baffert said. "Art Collector looks good. Mr. Big News looks good. It's exciting. There's some new faces here who are excited about their horse."

What figures to decide Saturday's race is how trainers adjust to the longer four-week gap between the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. Baffert is a master at handling the traditional two-week turnaround, registering all seven of his Preakness wins with a Kentucky Derby starter.

"Two weeks goes back to my Quarter Horse days when we would run back in a week or two," he said.

Baffert likes what he has seen from both Authentic, the 9-5 morning line favorite, and Thousand Words, the 6-1 co-third choice.

"Authentic came out of the Kentucky Derby strong. He hasn't regressed," Baffert said. "That's why I was hoping the Preakness would be in two weeks and why I've been so successful in it. My horses are sharp and fit. I don't like giving the competition an extra two weeks to get ready for us."

Owned by Spendthrift Farm, MyRaceHorse Stable, Madaket Stables, and Starlight Racing, Authentic just might boast an ownership group with the most people and combined wealth of any Kentucky Derby winner.

It starts with Spendthrift Farm, which secured racing and breeding rights to Authentic prior to his loss in the Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1)—his lone defeat in six starts—in a deal that is approaching $30 million due to "kickers" for winning races such as the Kentucky Derby and TVG Haskell Stakes (G1) and can continue to grow.

For Spendthrift, it was a highly rewarding purchase for 87-year-old owner B. Wayne Hughes, who was treated to his first Triple Crown victory by a colt who doubled the pleasure by being out of the farm's premier stallion, Into Mischief .

"Mr. Hughes was absolutely thrilled to win the Kentucky Derby," Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey said. "It meant the world to him. To repeat that effort in the Preakness, that would be tremendous for him."

The size of the Authentic partnership comes from the involvement of MyRaceHorse Stable and its CEO and founder, Michael Behrens. When Spendthrift bought Authentic from original owners SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Sol Kumin's Madaket Stables, Fred Hertrich III, John Fielding, and Golconda Stables, Starlight and Madaket elected to stay on board for the remainder of his racing career. Spendthrift then sold 12.5% of Authentic's racing and breeding rights to MyRaceHorse, which in turn sold .001% micro-shares of the colt to 5,314 new owners for a price capped at $206.

"The MyRaceHorse project has become very important to Mr. Hughes," Toffey said. "He felt they needed a marquee horse. He loves the idea of making ownership like this accessible to people through the micro-shares, especially during the pandemic when it gave people something they could enjoy and root for."

Aside from the 5,000-plus winner's circle photos for the MyRaceHorse platoon, Starlight Racing brought another 12 owners into the mix, some two year after the stable owned a share of Baffert's 2018 Triple Crown winner, Justify . Unlike Justify, when Starlight Racing and Kumin's Head of Plains Partners bought parts of his racing rights once the colt's career started, Starlight and Kumin, along with SF Racing, where there from day one with Authentic, who was one of an $11.4 million package of 24 yearling colts (three of whom already have stallion deals) bought in 2018 by them and an elite group of bloodstock agents who took on the nickname of "The Avengers."

"Winning the Kentucky Derby is probably more special this time because we were involved from the beginning," said Jack Wolf, the CEO and managing partner of Starlight Racing. "It's unbelievable what Bob does with these 3-year-olds, even when they run the Kentucky Derby in September."

Kumin, who heads both the Madaket Stables and Head of Plains Partners groups, has a smaller collection of three partners who were involved in both Justify and Authentic, but two of them are billionaire Steve Cohen, his former boss who is in the midst of trying to buy the New York Mets, and Jim Pallotta, a minority owner of the Boston Celtics.

For Kumin and his partners, after wins by Exaggerator  in 2016 and Justify, Authentic could provide them with a Preakness hat trick, which would have special meaning to Kumin, an alum of Johns Hopkins in Baltimore who spent his first day at the races at Pimlico.

"The Preakness is my favorite race of the year. The first track I ever went to was Pimlico when I was at college at Hopkins, and it has a special place in my heart," Kumin said. "Winning the Preakness with Exaggerator was my first classic, and it would be awesome to win it for a third time."

Albaugh Family Stables and Spendthrift Farm's Thousand Words is the "other" Baffert horse in the field. He came out of his Kentucky Derby mishap fine and has been training forwardly.

"We have high hopes going into the Preakness," owner Dennis Albaugh said. "I like the fact that we're fresh for the Preakness."

Thousand Words last raced Aug. 1 when he defeated Honor A. P.  in the Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar. It signaled a complete turnaround for a colt who won the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2) at 2 but was 11th in the May 2 Oaklawn Stakes.

While Baffert, a two-time Triple Crown winner, has the most Triple Crown wins (16) in the sport's history, his main competition could come from a horse sent out by a trainer making his first start in a Triple Crown race.

Trainer Tom Drury Jr. has done a masterful job with 5-2 second choice Art Collector, who is 4-for-4 in 2020. A son of Bernardini  owned by Bruce Lunsford, Art Collector won the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2). He missed the Kentucky Derby due to a minor foot injury but has worked sharply for the Preakness.

"I think Bob and I have both been watching each other's horses, and they have been equally impressive. We're looking forward to taking our best shot against horses like this," Drury said.

The sizzle in the race will come from Peter Callahan's Swiss Skydiver, a Daredevil  filly who was second, 3 1/2 lengths behind in the Blue Grass. Since then, she won the Alabama Stakes (G1) and was second in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1).

"She continues to do good," McPeek said. "She continues to impress us every day. You can't have fear. We'd like to get the big prize, and here we are."

Some of the other main threats include Allied Racing Stable's Mr. Big News, a son of Giant's Causeway trained by Bret Calhoun who was third in the Kentucky Derby; John Fanelli, Cash Is King, LC Racing, Paul Braverman, and Team Hanley's Ny Traffic, a New York-bred son of Cross Traffic  trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. who was a nose behind Authentic in the Haskell but eighth in the Kentucky Derby; and George E. Hall and SportBLX Thoroughbreds' Max Player.

An Honor Code  colt, Max Player is one of trainer Steve Asmussen's three starters—along with Pneumatic and Excession—and is the lone horse to run in all three legs of the Triple Crown. Third in the Belmont Stakes and fifth in the Kentucky Derby, he also has a multitude of owners through micro-shares sold by SportBLX Thoroughbreds.

"I don't look at it as a two-horse race. There's a half-dozen horses in there who could pop up on any day and win the race. When you get to this level, that's what you expect," Drury said.

Considering that it's fall, in the final analysis, the 145th Preakness is surely not the race anyone expected in January—but it will definitely do at this point in time.

"The atmosphere is not here," Baffert said. "It doesn't feel like the Preakness. It's one of those things that we're here and we are looking forward to it and it's still the Preakness, but it's like the Derby. It didn't feel like the Derby until the starting gates opened."