Last Preakness Runners Arrive at Pimlico

The last four horses expected for the May 21 Xpressbet.com Preakness Stakes (gr. I) arrived at Pimlico Race Course May 19 and settled into their stalls at the Baltimore racetrack.

Stradivari, who comes into the Preakness off a 14 1/2-length allowance victory at Keeneland, arrived at Pimlico on a Brook Ledge horse van shortly before 8 a.m. ET Thursday, after a four-hour trip from Belmont Park.

Stonehedge's Abiding Star arrived around 8 a.m. ET, following a van ride from Parx Racing. Abiding Star was accompanied by Always Sunshine, rated second at 7-2 in the morning line for Saturday's Maryland Sprint Handicap (gr. III).

"We left at 5:30 (a.m.). It was a nice, clean trip. I followed the van down," trainer Ned Allard said. "Tomorrow, they're both going to go out to the racetrack to do a little something and then they're ready to roll. There's nothing major left to be done."

Both Allard trainees are stabled in Barn 1 in the stable area along the backstretch at Pimlico, far away from the stakes barns in the stable area behind the grandstand. Abiding Star and other healthy horses that shipped from Parx, where a quarantine for equine herpesvirus was lifted May 17, are scheduled to train between 5-5:30 a.m. May 20 prior to the regular training session that starts at 6 a.m.

Abiding Star, one of four sons of Uncle Mo   in the 11-horse Preakness field, is riding a five-race winning streak, including the Parx Derby May 7.

Koji Maeda's Lani arrived at Pimlico at 8:55 Thursday morning following a van ride from Belmont.

"We left Belmont at 4:15," said Keita Tanaka, agent for Maeda. "It was a smooth trip and we got here on time."

Lani was housed in an isolation portion of Barn B.

"He will have half a barn to walk in, which is about the same as what he had at Churchill Downs," Tanaka said, referring to Lani's housing during his five-week stay in the stakes barn in Louisville, where he ran ninth in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I).

Lani shipped to Belmont May 9 and completed his Preakness preparation there with a five-furlong work in 1:01.50 May 18.

Trainer Mikio Matsunaga said Lani would go to the track Friday between 7 and 9 a.m.

"He may go around one time or two, but he will go to the gate to stand," Matsunaga said, adding that Lani also would go to the track Saturday morning to train the day of the race as he did in Kentucky.

Tanaka said Lani would not have a paddock schooling session.

"Just the gate for him to walk in, stand, and back out," the trainer explained.