Exaggerator, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, won the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, denying Kentucky Derby victor Nyquist a chance to win horse racing’s Triple Crown.
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The rider who started his career in Maryland guided Exaggerator to a 3 1/2-length victory over Cherry Wine in Saturday’s $1.5 million Preakness, ending any chance for a Triple Crown follow up after American Pharoah accomplished the rare feat past year.
With a final time of 1 minute 58.31 seconds, Exaggerator finished strong, as he’s been known to do, slipping up the rail and beating out Cherry Wine, who finished second.
But anyone expecting a battle to the line were to be disappointed as Exaggerator ran right past his rival to score in decisive fashion and become the first horse since 1993 to win the Preakness after coming second in the Kentucky Derby.
Trainer Keith Desormeaux holds a trophy after Exaggerator with Kent Desormeaux atop won the 141st Preakness Stakes horse race at Pimlico Race Course, Saturday, May 21, 2016, in Baltimore. The winners of the first two legs of the spring series of horse racing are expected to meet for the rubber match in the 11/2-mile Belmont on June 11 at Belmont Park. Jockey Kent Desormeaux entered the race with two Preakness wins and more starts in the race (13) than the rest of the jockeys combined.
Given the conditions, Exaggerator ran a near-perfect race. I thought about WinStar getting on board and enjoying the ride with us. It’s the first time a Kentucky Derby runner-up has won the Preakness in 23 years.
Exaggerator, the Preakness victor, is by the 2007 Preakness victor Curlin. That’s when Exaggerator made the move of the race.
During the fourth race on Preakness Day, 4-year-old filly Pramedya collapsed on the turf and suffered a broken leg.
“Hats off to Exaggerator and Team Desormeaux”. During 1988, while on summer vacation from Louisiana Tech, he came to Maryland to gallop horses and live with Kent, who at 18 was one of the country’s hottest jockeys.
But Exaggerator, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, produced a masterful display on a sodden course to overhaul the favourite on the home straight.
“I can’t even fathom this”, Desormeaux said. In the second jewel of the Triple Crown, the Desormeaux brothers shined.
“Nyquist had company the whole way round and I had a dream trip today”.
Nyquist, breaking from the third post position in the 11-horse field, beat the other speed horses out of the gate and ran from the lead for much of the race.
Nyquist broke well under Mario Gutierrez, and he and 34-1 long shot Uncle Lino went back and forth on the lead.
“Studies – and our own investigations – have shown that most breakdowns and deaths occur because horses have pre-existing injuries that are masked by the excessive use of legal medications”, said the PETA statement.
Now we have been reminded just how hard that quest was, and why it took almost four decades to achieve it.
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It was a tragic, wet, dirty day at Pimlico that left two horses dead, a jockey injured and a Triple Crown dream in the muck.
