Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown drew post seven for the 133rd Preakness on Saturday, but the real number Michael Iavarone, the thoroughbred?s owner, is worrying about is 12.
That?s how many horses will have won the Preakness out of that post if Big Brown, the Preakness favorite, wins the 1 3/16th-mile race at Pimlico.
“I think we are in the right spot,” Iavarone said shortly after all 13 posts were announced at the ESPN Zone in the Inner Harbor. “[Trainer] Rick [Dutrow] really thought we were going to get post one or post 13.”
But that might have been disastrous for Big Brown, as no horse has won the Preakness from either of those post positions. The lastPreakness winner to draw post seven was Silver Charm, which also won the Kentucky Derby before falling short of the Triple Crown at the Belmont Stakes later that month. Big Brown, a 1-2 favorite to win, is undefeated in four career races.
But Big Brown?s starting post hasn?t mattered at all, as he became the first since the advent of the starting gate to win from post 20 at the Kentucky Derby last week.
“In reality, if Big Brown races the way he did [in Kentucky] at the Preakness,” Randy Moss, an analyst for ESPN, said, “they can?t beat him.”
Big Brown, however, had a little controversy of his own on Wednesday. The horse was scheduled to fly into Baltimore earlier in the day, but had his flight delayed nearly 10 hours and took off about two minutes after his post time was announced. But Iavarone was more concerned with just 14 days rest for his horse between races.
“It?s two weeks rest,” he said. “We know how tough it is to win the Kentucky Derby and come back in two weeks and try to win the Preakness.”
Only one other horse which also ran at Churchill Downs, Gayego, will compete in the Preakness in front of a national television audience on NBC. Gayego finished 17th out of 20 horses in Kentucky.
But Big Brown?s opponents aren?t convinced he?ll cross the finish line first on Saturday.
“He?s beatable,” Reade Baker, trainer of Kentucky Bear, a 15-1 longshot, said. “He beat all those horses at Churchill Downs, but he didn?t beat us.”
THE FIELD, FROM THE RAIL OUT
Macho Again (jockey Julien Leparoux, 20-1 odds); Tres Borrachos (Tyler Baze, 30-1); Icabad Crane (Jeremy Rose, 30-1); Yankee Bravo (Alex Solis, 15-1); Behindatthebar (David Flores, 10-1); Racecar Rhapsody (Robby Albarado, 30-1); Big Brown (Kent Desormeaux, 1-2); Kentucky Bear (Jamie Theriot, 15-1); Stevil (John Velazquez, 30-1); Riley Tucker (Edgar Prado, 30-1); Giant Moon (Ramon Dominguez, 30-1); Gayego (Mike Smith, 8-1); and Hey Byrn (Charles Lopez, 20-1).
