Preakness Longshots Continue Preparations

Trainer and co-owner Gary Sherlock is confident that Uncle Lino is ready for the challenge of facing unbeaten Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) winner Nyquist and the other nine horses entered in the May 21 Preakness Stakes (gr. I) .

 

"I don't know if I'm going to get it done, but I'm going to come in and give it a good shot," Sherlock said. "The horse is doing good. He's moving forward."

 

Uncle Lino, who Sherlock owns with Tom Mansor and Jim Glavin, finished third behind eventual Derby runner-up Exaggerator in the Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) and won the California Chrome Stakes, an ungraded event at Los Alamitos Race Course in April. Those performances encouraged Sherlock to try the Preakness.

BALAN: Uncle Lino Game in California Chrome Stakes

 

"Exaggerator has beat me twice, but I've had some excuses," Sherlock said. "I think my horse is better now than when I ran with him. I'll be disappointed if I don't run first, second, or third. If nothing happens to Nyquist, he'll probably win."

 

Uncle Lino, named for Mansor's favorite uncle, shipped from California to Baltimore May 17 and did not go to the track May 18. Sherlock, 70, is a veteran horseman who has had success with Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds in California. Uncle Lino will be his first starter in a classic race.

 

"It's the Preakness, so it's not just another horse race," Sherlock said. "I've been doing this for 50 years, so I don't get that excited. Want to see me excited? Let me win."

 

Jacks or Better Farm's Fellowship, who arrived from Churchill Downs early May 17, got acquainted with the Pimlico racing surface May 18.

 

"He's settled in real nice. He seems to be really enjoying it here. Usually, when we ship in we'll take it easy with them for the first couple days. He just went off and galloped just a mile instead of a mile and a half," said trainer Mark Casse's son and assistant Norm Casse.

 

Fellowship finished fourth in the Pat Day Mile (gr. III) on the Kentucky Derby undercard at Churchill May 7. Like Derby winner Nyquist and runner-up Exaggerator, as well as ninth-place finisher Lani, Fellowship will run back in the Preakness with just two weeks between races.

 

"He seems like he has a really high energy level. He's a horse, when he gallops, (who) shows a lot of enthusiasm. He seems to be coming into this race the same way he came into the race Derby Day," Casse said. "We're excited to have the opportunity to be here."

 

Fellowship closed late to finish third in three graded stakes at Gulfstream Park this winter—the Lambholm South Holy Bull (gr. II), Lambholm South Fountain of Youth (gr. II), and the Xpressbet.com Florida Derby (gr. I)—and could benefit from an apparent abundance of speed horses in the Preakness field.

 

"We're just going to let him settle into his stride. We don't have a target on our back by any means. Nobody's really paying attention to us. We find that his horse has a really good cruising speed, so I think, ideally, you just don't mess with him—just let what happens in the race happen and let him come with his run when it's time," Norm Casse said. "It's certainly nice to know there's going to be speed for him to run at, but we're not going to take him back and take him out of his game, because we think there's going to be a ton of speed that's going to collapse. We'll just let him be who he is.

 

"He's settled in real nice. He seems to be really enjoying it here. Usually, when we ship in, we'll take it easy with them for the first couple days. He just went off and galloped just a mile instead of a mile and a half."

Another Preakness longshot is the maiden Laoban. Decked out in customary cargo shorts and hoodie, trainer Eeric Guillot said the son of Uncle Mo   was settling in nicely after arriving on a flight from Louisville May 17. He has been training at Keeneland since finishing fourth in the Blue Grass April 9.

 

"There were a lot of moving parts, a lot of things to get done, but we did it," said Guillot, who is set to saddle his first Preakness horse.

 

Probable Preakness favorite Nyquist has never lost a race in eight starts; Laoban has never won a race in five starts. That doesn't faze Guillot, who needed 10 tries before his most successful runner, Moreno, broke his maiden. He then went on to win multiple graded stakes and nearly $3 million in purses.

 

Laoban was on the also-eligible list for the Kentucky Derby, along with Preakness contender Cherry Wine, but neither colt got into the field.

 

"I wanted to be the next one to win the Triple Crown, because it was 37 years since the last one, but that white-haired (expletive) did it last year, so now I'm trying to win the Preakness with a maiden," said Guillot, referring to trainer Bob Baffert, who saddled American Pharoah   for a sweep of the 2015 Triple Crown.

 

With all the speed signed up for the Preakness, Guillot hopes to alter his strategy with the removal of blinkers and the addition of jockey Florent Geroux.

 

"He's too big of a horse to show that kind of speed early," Guillot said. "I think he's going to relax more.  He's had a few works with horses in front of him. This field is loaded with speed—loaded more than Guillot's plate at a Chinese buffet."

 

The morning activities of other Preakness contenders were as follows:

Stradivari galloped 1 3/8 miles the morning of May 18 over the Belmont Park training track. He is scheduled to arrive at Pimlico Race Course around 9 a.m. ET May 19, trainer Todd Pletcher said.

Stonehedge Farm's Abiding Star will also be Pimlico-bound the morning of May 19, now that the equine herpesvirus quarantine at Parx Racing was lifted. He breezed an easy half-mile at Parx in :50.16 May 17.



"He'll walk and ship tomorrow. He's just going to gallop once around on Friday, and he's good to go," Allard said.

 

Colts Neck Stable's Awesome Speed walked the shedrow at owner Richard Santulli's private training facility in New Jersey the morning of May 18, the day after his final workout for Saturday's Preakness.

 

"Everything's fine," trainer Alan Goldberg said by phone from Colts Neck, where Awesome Speed breezed four furlongs in 47 1/5 May 17. "He'll gallop tomorrow and then get on the van for Pimlico at around 8 or so."

 

The son of Awesome Again   earned an automatic berth in the Preakness starting gate with a victory in the April 9 Federico Tesio at Laurel Park via the disqualification of Governor Malibu.

 

Jevian Toledo, a 21-year-old who was Maryland's leading rider in 2015, gets the return ride aboard Awesome Speed. He was the colt's fifth different rider in six races when he won the Tesio.