Hull, Big Drama confirmed for Preakness; other new shooters
possible
The Preakness S. (G1) gained two new shooters on Monday when the undefeated
Derby Trial S. (G3) winner HULL (Holy Bull) and Delta Jackpot S. (G3) victor BIG
DRAMA (Montbrook) were confirmed for the May 16 classic
at Pimlico.
Owned by Heiligbrodt Racing Stables, Team Valor International and Gary
Barber, Hull has won all three of his starts by a combined 16 lengths. The Dale
Romans trainee, who rolled to a four-length score in the April 25 Derby Trial
going 7 1/2 furlongs, will tackle two turns for the first time in the Preakness.
His connections had considered a pair of one-turn events at Belmont Park for
his next outing, the Metropolitan Mile (G1) on May 25 or the Woody Stephens S.
(G2) on June 6. In the aftermath of MINE THAT BIRD’s (Birdstone) 50-1 upset in
the Kentucky Derby (G1) on a sloppy, sealed track, Hull’s owners decided to
change plans and aim for the second leg of the Triple Crown.
“The Kentucky Derby under normal circumstances takes a lot out of a horse,”
Barry Irwin, owner of Team Valor International, said. “I liken it to a
heavyweight boxing match. It can be brutal. So one can only imagine what the
strain has been on the horses that ran last Saturday given the underfoot
conditions. It seems logical to think the Derby will have taken at least some
toll on them.”
Romans plans to breeze the colt on Saturday at Churchill Downs and have him
flown from Kentucky to Maryland on May 13.
“I won’t do too much with him,” the Louisville-based trainer said. “He’s fit.
“He has always acted like the real deal to me,” Romans noted. “He ran green
in the Derby Trial, won it by four lengths, and I really think there is a lot
more to this colt than he has shown us in the afternoon.”
Miguel Mena, who has been aboard Hull for his last two
wins, has the Preakness riding assignment.
“Our biggest fear has been we have never run around two turns,” Irwin
said,
“and it sure would be nice if we had done it once so the horse could get the
condition and experience, but sometimes life is not ideal, and you have to seize
the opportunity when it presents itself.
“I like the horse but it was the jockey who swayed me. The trainer is
confident in the horse but the jockey is over the moon about how good the horse
is. He says we have gotten nowhere near the bottom of him. That encouraged me to
want to try the Preakness.”
Big Drama worked at Calder on Monday, traveling six furlongs in 1:14 on the
fast track. The David Fawkes pupil is coming off a terrific sophomore debut in
the Swale S. (G2), where he crossed the wire first in a track record-setting
performance, but was disqualified and placed second.
“We are ready to roll,” Fawkes said. “I was real happy with the breeze. He
went home in :23 and two. He is the kind of horse where you can put him anywhere
you want. He can sit off the lead and he has a huge turn of foot. When you push
the gas pedal, he goes. He really should be undefeated. The only time we got
beat to the wire (in his debut last July) was rider error.”
Big Drama is scheduled to leave South Florida Tuesday morning and arrive at
Pimlico the following morning. Fawkes expects to breeze the dark bay at Pimlico
next Monday.
“When you watch the Derby and see a 50-1 shot win, it can only help the
Preakness,” Fawkes added. “There might be some trainers who may not have thought
their horses had Triple Crown abilities but now might take a chance.”
Other possible new shooters in the Preakness include Withers S. (G3) victor MR.
FANTASY (E Dubai); Grade 3 runner-up TAKE THE POINTS (Even
the Score), who exits a fourth in the Santa Anita Derby (G1); Lexington S. (G2)
runner-up CONSERVATIVE (Unbridled’s Song); and last-out
Federico Tesio S. winner MINER’S ESCAPE (Mineshaft).