The Kentucky Derby runner-up won the second leg of horse-racing’s Triple Crown Saturday in the rain and slop at Pimlico Race Course. By winning the Preakness, Exaggerator sent Nyquist to his first defeat and allowed American Pharoah – who swept the Triple Crown past year – to retain his title as the only horse since 1978 to win the Triple Crown.
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It happened last June, when Helwan, a 4-year-old colt from France, broke down at Belmont Park and was euthanized behind a curtain on the track less than three hours before the sports world celebrated American Pharoah’s Triple Crown victory.
In a tragic start to Preakness day, two horses died and a jockey broke his collarbone in the first four races.
Then on the fourth race, Pramedya and her jockey, Daniel Centeno, took a fall during a turn.
The racing day began on a somber note when Homeboykris, the victor of the Preakness Stakes undercard race, collapsed and died shortly after winning the day’s opening race at Pimilco. It is believed it suffered from a cardiovascular collapse.
WBAL will carry live coverage starting at 1 p.m. from Pimlico.
Nyquist led most of the race, but couldn’t hang on in the final straightaway. “We’d just love to have a attractive day”.
“I had an absolute dream ride”, Kent Desormeaux said. But Exaggerator looked too strong, and Nyquist too gassed, for another lead change to take place. The Washington Post reports that Lael Stables also owned Barbaro, a former Kentucky Derby victor “who broke his right hind leg racing in the 2006 Preakness and died from complications from the injury in January of 2007”. Trainer Larry Jones said Eight Belles “ran the race of her life” and added that “there was no way to save her” and that “she couldn’t stand”. He earned $900,000 from a total purse of $1.5 million for his fifth win in 11 starts, raising his total to $2,971,120 for Big Chief Racing, Head of Plains Racing and Rocker O Ranch. “I’ve thought about Exaggerator and his second Grade 1 win”. With all the preparations and expectations at a high level, Preakness Stakes will take place on Saturday, start time at 6:45 PM ET, at Pimlico, Baltimore, Maryland. (AP Photo/Nick Wass) Exaggerator with Kent Desormeaux aboard wins the 141st Preakness Stakes horse race at Pimlico Race Course, Saturday, May 21, 2016, in Baltimore. Cherry Wine, 10th early in the 11-horse field, closed stoutly to nose Nyquist out for second.
Nyquist broke well from post 3, and Uncle Lino went with him from post 2.
Unlike the Derby, the Preakness is full of front-runners, horses who like to run on the lead.
“I’m in shock right now”, said Desormeaux, who has won seven Triple Crown races. It paid off as he made his decisive move at the top of the stretch to escape with a winning time of 1:58.31.
“It would not be great, but everybody has to run on it”, Lani’s trainer Mikio Matsunaga said of a possible sloppy track.
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“It looked like he came back to be unsaddled in good shape, so maybe we’ll try again”, O’Neill said. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments â either by the same reader or different readers.
