Big Brown's Derby success hasn't discouraged rivals

BALTIMORE — Maybe it’s the prestige of running in a Triple Crown race. Maybe it’s hoping to catch the undefeated Kentucky Derby winner on an off day. Probably, it’s a little of both.

Whatever the case, Big Brown will have plenty of company when he runs in Saturday’s 133rd Preakness.

A dozen horses will take on the colt who may well go off as the biggest favorite in race history, based on his runaway Derby victory from post 20.

“There is something about running in these big races. Maybe that’s why there’s 13 in there,” Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito said Wednesday morning outside the stakes barn at Pimlico Race Course.

“I don’t know. I didn’t think there would be that many. After the way Big Brown won the Derby, I’m surprised. He’s good. But I’m glad there’s 13. It’s good for the game.”

Zito will saddle his 19th Preakness starter, tied for second most all- time, in maiden winner Stevil, who ran fourth in the Grade I Blue Grass April 12 in his most recent start.

“My horse is very consistent. He always runs a good race,” Zito said, “but the story is, without question, Big Brown. I’m a fan of the game, too. I just hope we run a good race and get close and try to beat him in the next town.

“To say anybody, on paper, is going to beat Big Brown is going to be a stretch. However, they don’t run on paper. They run on dirt, and they run it here.”

Owned by Robert LaPenta, who also owns the injured War Pass and Cool Coal Man, who was a distant 15th in the Derby, Stevil won his career bow last October at Belmont Park, but has failed to beat winners in five subsequent tries.

In his two most recent starts,

Stevil was fifth by 51⁄2 lengths to Pyro in the Louisiana Derby and fourth by 21⁄2 to Monba in the Blue Grass. Monba, co-owned by Schenectady native Don Lucarelli, ran last of 20 in the Derby.

“He runs good all the time. He just tries all the time,” Zito said. “His Louisiana Derby, I thought, was a great race. Actually, Pyro got in front of him and took his spot, but he ran terrific. I think he’s going to run great.

“I have a good feeling. I think he’ll be in the money; I’d be surprised if he’s not. I don’t usually say that. That’s all I can ask for, right?”

Yankee Bravo will be the first Preakness starter for trainer Patrick “Paddy” Gallagher, a former assistant to the late Bill Shoemaker. Winner of the California Derby, Yankee Bravo arrived at Pimlico Wednesday afternoon.

“If Big Brown runs his race, he looks like he’s the winner,” Gallagher said. “We’re all here to try our best and see what happens.”

Of the 12 horses taking on Big Brown, only one, Gayego, also exits the Derby, the fewest from Louisville to take on the Derby winner in 28 years. Restricted to 14 starters, the Preakness had a full field in 2005 and 13 in 1999 and 2002.

There have been five horses since 1980 to skip the Derby and win the Preakness: Codex (1980), Aloma’s Ruler (1982), Deputed Testamony (1983), Red Bullet (2000) and Bernardini (2006).

“I don’t know about the others, but in our case, the horse is doing well,” said Ken McPeek, who trains Racecar Rhapsody. “We want to try him at a mile and three sixteenths. Other than Big Brown, it looks like the race is wide open.”

Third in the Grade II Kentucky Jockey Club last fall, Racecar Rhapsody has been fourth in three straight graded stakes since, beaten less than eight lengths combined.

In 2002, McPeek sent Sarava to upset the Belmont Stakes at odds of 70-1, ending War Emblem’s bid for Triple Crown immortality.

Eleven horses have swept the Derby, Preakness and Belmont, but none since Affirmed in 1978.