Horse now has chance to become first since 1978 to win Triple Crown
BALTIMORE — It was so close that the record crowd of 121,309 waited until the replay finished before cheering.
I’ll Have Another won the 137th Preakness Stakes by a neck over Bodemeister in a stirring stretch run that went down to the final yards at Pimlico Race Course. I’ll Have Another covered 13?16 miles on Saturday in 1:55.94 while paying $8.40 as the second choice. Favorite Bodemeister replicated his Kentucky Derby runner-up finish, while Creative Cause was third.
“When you win those kind of races, you’re yelling at the top of your lungs, and to see your horse [win] at the wire, there’s no better feeling,” I’ll Have Another trainer Doug O’Neill said.
The Kentucky Derby champion will try to become thoroughbred racing’s first Triple Crown winner since 1978 at the Belmont Stakes on June 9. He’s the first Derby-Preakness champion since Big Brown in 2008.
I’ll Have Another will head to New York on Sunday to prepare on the Belmont Park racing surface. The early arrival replicates the stable’s strategy for the Preakness, for which it arrived 12 days early.
I’ll Have Another grabbed the Pimlico racing oval well, while Bodemeister seemingly struggled early even though he led every stride until the final 20 yards. When Bodemeister covered the first quarter mile in 23.79 seconds and the opening half mile in 47.68 seconds, it meant the front-runner would have something left for the stretch. The time was fair, not sizzling as opponents hoped. They needed to beat Bodemeister fairly in the lane.
“We didn’t want to gun our horse and take him out of his game either,” O’Neill said. “[Jockey] Mario [Gutierrez] felt super confident in this horse to get the best run out of him. He rode it the way it was unfolded. He didn’t have a great trip — on both turns he was a little wide.”
Creative Cause pressed Bodemeister until the final turn. Then it was I’ll Have Another’s turn. At the eighth pole, Gutierrez knew his colt could run down Bodemeister again.
“I knew it would be tough,” he said. “I’ll Have Another has a tremendous kick in the edge. It’s a great feeling when [you’re] riding a horse that gives you 100 percent.”
