Diamond King Heading to Preakness

Trainer John Servis confirmed May 10 that Cash is King, D.J. Stable, and LC Racing's Diamond King will make his next start in the May 19 Preakness Stakes (G1).

Diamond King earned automatic entry into the second leg of the Triple Crown by virtue of his victory in the Federico Tesio Stakes April 21 at Laurel Park, but he was entered in the May 12 Peter Pan Stakes (G3) at Belmont Park.

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After consulting with the ownership, led by Cash is King's Chuck Zacney, the decision was made to point to the Preakness, a race the Parx Racing-based Servis won with his only previous starter, 2004 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Smarty Jones .

"It looks like we're heading to the Preakness," Servis said. "It's always exciting to be able to come back and be a part of it. He didn't get a chance to run in the Derby because he didn't have the points, but the winner was very impressive. I'm excited about it."

Servis plans to give Diamond King, a bay son of Quality Road , one final breeze for the Preakness this weekend at Parx. The colt returned to the work tab following the Tesio with a half-mile drill in :50.21 May 6.

"He came out of it great. It was just a maintenance work—just a nice, easy half-mile by himself. We just wanted to let him stretch his legs a little bit," Servis said. "He'll work again this weekend, but I don't know what day. I'm planning on Sunday, but I'm not sure. We'll have to see how the weather shakes out."

With other horses to run over the weekend, Servis said he plans to ship to Pimlico Race Course May 18, Black-Eyed Susan (G2) day.

"As of right now, I'm planning on coming in early Friday morning," Servis said. "I have a couple to run Friday there anyway, so I think I'll ship them all early Friday morning and beat the traffic, and let (Diamond King) get there and just settle in and get ready for Saturday."