Preakness Stakes Horses: Only Two Coming Off Wins

Written by Jake Thompson
Wednesday, 11 May 2011 19:01

It’s a bit odd to see how many potential Preakness entries are coming off of losing efforts.

The 14 horses that currently appear likely to run in the 2011 Preakness Stakes are all good entries, but it does seem quite weird that so many of them are coming off of losing efforts.  Of course Animal Kingdom is coming off his big win in the Kentucky Derby, but beyond him there is just a single winner coming off a victory despite only 4 other Kentucky Derby runners likely to comprise this field.  We’ll take a look at the last performances for each of the potential entries in this early preview of the May 21st race from Pilico Race Course.

The only other Preakness Stakes likely entry that is coming off a win is Concealed Identity, who took home a win in the Tesio Stakes.  Sired by 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Smarty Jones, Concealed Identity won his debut but then finished no better than 4th in his next 3 races during the 2011 season.  It wasn’t until an allowance race at Pimlico when this horse won again, and it is worth noting that the last two straight races were victories on this Preakness Stakes track.  Concealed Identity has won both career races at longer than a mile and will surely be a favorite choice amongst those looking for a horse that hasn’t garnered as much publicity as some of the others likely to be in the starting gate for this race.

Since it appears that Kentucky Derby 2nd place finisher Nehro will instead aim for the Belmont Stakes, it looks like there will only be two Preakness runners coming off of 2nd place efforts.  Astrology was just short in the Jerome Stakes while Prime Cut barely missed in the Lexington Stakes.  Astrology has claimed 3 straight 2nd place finishes but the pedigree and distance of the Preakness Stakes suggests he’s likely to figure into exotics.  Prime Cut showed a large improvement in that Lexington Stakes run, but the pace will play a large part in figuring out how he does at Pimlico.

Beyond those horses, Dance City (Arkansas Derby), King Congie (Blue Grass), Mr. Commons (Santa Anita Derby), and Mucho Macho Man (Kentucky Derby) are coming off 3rd place finishes, Flashpoint (Florida Derby), Norman Asbjornson (Wood Memorial), Shackleford (Kentucky Derby), and Sway Away (Arkansas Deby) are coming off 4th place finishes, while Sanita (Kentucky Derby) last finished 6th and Dialed In (Kentucky Derby) was 8th last time out.