Exaggerator (Curlin) was “full of energy” Sunday morning following his 3 1/2-length victory over previously unbeaten GI Kentucky Derby hero Nyquist (Uncle Mo) in Saturday's GI Preakness S., trainer Keith Desormeaux reported. Those two rivals and Preakness runner-up Cherry Wine (Paddy O'Prado) will all continue on to the GI Belmont S. June 11.
“The dream, honestly, is just having a horse that is consistent and has the ability to compete at this level,” remarked the conditioner, who is a first-time Preakness winner. “We do our best, honestly, to prepare and hope and make sure that we've done all we can to get the horse to the race in the best shape. Goodness, the actual feeling of winning, honestly, is still sinking in. I've been pretty good with these things all week, but I'm at a loss for words. I'm still processing it all.”
Exaggerator faced Nyquist on four previous occassions with the Eclipse winner coming out on top each time, including the Derby in which Exaggerator closed well to be second. The Big Chief Racing, Head of Plains Partners and Rocker O Ranch, et. al. runner enjoyed a dream trip in Baltimore Saturday, saving ground most of the way and splashing home a decisive victor.
“When I watch the race again I want to focus on Nyquist instead of Exaggerator,” Desormeaux said. “I was confident at the top of the stretch when he was moving up to the leaders without being asked. Kent [Desormeaux] was still sitting like it was in morning exercise.”
Desormeaux continued, “When he asked Exaggerator for his best, there had to be much left in the tank. Nyquist had pretty much been on the lead the whole way. At the top of the stretch, that's a long way to go and I said, 'We still have 24 seconds to go.' At the eighth-pole, Kent made a swerve a little bit, and it looked like Nyquist might try to make an outside run but the distance never shortened all the way home.”
Exaggerator will head to Belmont next for a rematch with Nyquist in the Belmont, but he will get some down time at Pimlico first and will most likely ship to New York next Sunday.
“That mile-and-a-half deal, that's more about pedigree than what I'm going to do in the morning,” Desormeaux said. “Another very important thing, I think, is Belmont is called Big Sandy for a reason. I think there have been some Triple Crown defeats because of some horses going in there too late. You have to get in there and train over the track and get those horses acclimated to the different surface. We'll have plenty of time to do that. Pedigree wins the Belmont.”
Nyquist in Good Form Post Preakness…
Team O'Neill has also decided to push on to Belmont with Reddam Racing's Nyquist, who ended up third Saturday after being tagged late for second by “TDN Rising Star” Cherry Wine.
“Even the great Secretariat got beat,” O'Neill said. “They're not machines, as much as he would seem like a machine, being undefeated and doing everything like a super horse. He is a super horse. He ran his race. Exaggerator just ran an unbelievable race. And whether he moved up on that off going, I don't know. I think Exaggerator has shown in the past, he's just a really good horse and caught us on a day where he beat us.”
The trainer added, “He looked great. He looked fantastic. Ate up well; legs ice-cold; jogging good. So I'm very happy. And the plan at this point is to van to New York [Monday]. We're heading to Belmont, and as long as he continues to show good energy, does well, we'll try this again in three weeks.”
Nyquist broke sharply in the Preakness and set a fast pace, clocking an opening quarter in :22.38 under Mario Gutierrez.
“I wanted him to have a good, clean trip, free-running,” O'Neill said. “And the fast pace would be blamed on me, because I just didn't want any traffic trouble going into the first turn. If we had been outside of speed, we could have gone into the first turn maybe at a little easier pace, but I don't think that beat us. He ran such a bang-up race two weeks ago, and he had to really run going into the first turn. He tried hard. You could see, even going the last eighth, he was really plugging away, trying to get back to Exaggerator. He just couldn't keep pace with him.”
Cherry Wine to Join 'Brody' at Belmont…
Preakness runner-up and GI Toyota Blue Grass S. third Cherry Wine will join MGISW stablemate Brody's Cause (Giant's Causeway), winner of the Blue Grass and seventh in the Derby, in the Belmont in three weeks time, trainer Dale Romans announced Sunday. The William Pacella, Frank Jones, Jr. and Frank Shoop homebred will ship back to his Churchill Downs base Monday before heading to New York.
“We'll go back to Kentucky and evaluate,” Romans said. “Everything being equal, we'll be in the Belmont. I'm coming up early. I'll know by the end of the week if we're going to go and start preparing. He's fine. He bounces back. He's a happy horse. I don't think a mile and a half will be an issue.”
Sent off at 17-1 in the Preakness, Cherry Wine closed strongly from well back to edge past Nyquist late for second.
“I told Corey [Lanerie] in the paddock, the only instructions I gave were, 'Give him that Mine That Bird trip,'” Romans remarked, referring to Mine That Bird's rail-skimming victory in the 2009 Derby. “But the last thing I said was, 'Make sure you catch the last one.' He didn't catch the last one. He didn't listen.”
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