Street Sense trainer Carl Nafzger didn’t want to be favored in Saturday’s 132nd Preakness Stakes. Things didn’t go too well the last time it happened.
Bad luck caught Nafzger’s Unbridled at the top of the stretch in the 1990 Preakness. The Kentucky Derby winner was a hard-charging second while Summer Squall was a close third on the inside. Fighting Notion, a 35-1 long shot, decided the race, though. The tiring leader drifted slightly outside to force Unbridled even wider while giving Summer Squall the clear inside path. Summer Squall outran Unbridled to the wire, ending Nafzger’s only chance at the Triple Crown.
Nafzger isn’t bitter over the near miss. Sometimes racing luck goes bad just like it let Street Sense pass 18 Derby rivals with a blessed trip inside. Losing the 1990 Preakness with a 17-10 favorite to second choice Summer Squall isn’t haunting given Nafzger donned the roses beforehand.
“[Summer Squall jockey] Pat Day still thinks he won the Derby that year, but I don’t see it in the record book,” Nafzger said. “If I had the kind of horse that got up there quicker I could have shut the rail on him [in the Preakness.]”
Seventeen years later, Nafzger has the early 7-5 Preakness choice. The former bull rider seems as calm as the Mr. Rogers sweater he wore to the post position draw on Wednesday.
“It’s exciting, but it’s not pressure,” he said. “You can’t play the game if you feel the pressure. When you’re here, you have to enjoy the heat and like it. I like it.”
Only three Derby rivals followed Street Sense to Pimlico, including runnerup Hard Spun and third-place finisher Curlin. Five Triple Crown newcomers also fill the starting gate. Nafzger seems more concerned with the new shooters than foes already beaten. Bernardini won the Preakness last year after skipping the first leg when Derby winner Barbaro broke down in the early moments.
“The thing that changed the Triple Crown is the airplane,” Nafzger said. “King of the Roxy flies all the way from California to run in the Preakness. Thirty years ago, he would have stayed in California. Now the Triple Crown is harder to win more than any time because there’s always a new team. Everyone flies their best horse in.”
Mostly, the Preakness seems a three-horse race resembling the 1997 photo finish between Silver Charm, Free House and Captain Bodgit. Maybe karma will give Nafzger a clear path in the lane this time.
“This is going to be one of the best Preaknesses we’ve had in a long time,” Nafzger said.
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Contact him at [email protected].
