Exaggerator was the victor of Saturday’s Preakness Stakes and the name seemed apt on an afternoon that was all about hyperbole at Pimlico in Maryland.
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Race favorite Nyquist finished third, narrowly behind Cherry Wine, in the second leg of US thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown series for 3-year-olds after a day of rain at Pimlico Race Course.
Nyquist enters the Preakness with an 8-0 record.
Last year, the sport saw American Pharoah win the first Triple Crown in 37 years.
The disappointment started early Saturday.
There will be no Triple Crown victor in thoroughbred racing this year.
The horse, jockeyed by Kent J. Desormeaux, went into the race with 3-1 odds.
According to The Associated Press, 4-year-old filly Pramedya fell during a turn, injuring jockey Daniel Centeno, and had to be euthanized.
Through a string of races in California and the biggest one of them all in Kentucky, they chased Nyquist.
It was but a small damper, however, on the excitement of Exaggerator’s connections.
The Belmont can be the tiebreaker between two good horses that split the first two legs of the Triple Crown.
In the two weeks since he won the Kentucky Derby, O’Neill rattled off the virtues of his unbeaten star. Nyquist was third after going off as the 3-5 favorite.
I do think Exaggerator was the better horse Saturday and I’m not sure Nyquist beats him in the slop even with a more judicious ride.
In the immediate aftermath of the race, Keith Desormeaux said: I did what I could to get [Exaggerator] fresh and happy and strong. “You want to win every time you lead them over here, but it’s not realistic. But knowledge is power”.
The significance of what happened in the 141st Preakness on a sloppy track was not lost on Keith Desormeaux. For the abbreviation I’ve had in his previous starts, I had a dream trip today. “But brotherly love? I don’t know, is it different than any other kind of love?”
It only took a moment to decide a near two-minute race. “I’m in shock right now”, Kent said after Exaggerator lived up to his potential. “And obviously he had, because when Kent asked him he had more than enough”.
“What a great run”, Nyquist’s trainer Doug O’Neill said. Exaggerator’s sire, Curlin, also won the Preakness and finished second in the Belmont. Keith Desormeaux promised Exaggerator would be at the Belmont: “We’ll be there with bells on”.
“What a great run, ” he said. “I’m gonna think about a beer for a little while and I might get to him later”. “But Nyquist still ran a huge race”. He said he’ll talk with owner J. Paul Reddam and they’ll decide what is best.
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Speaking at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday hours before the Preakness, Sinatra said, “Once you come here and live through one Preakness, you feel it”. “Our horse, God, he’s such an unbelievable horse”. I can’t wait to see him in a little bit, give him a big kiss and a pat on the head because he’s still a victor in our book.
