One horse that won't be running in the Preakness is Mr. Hot Stuff. His future plans?

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Mr. Hot Stuff has emerged from his 15th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby last weekend in good condition and is being considered for races on both coasts, trainer Eoin Harty said Thursday.

Owned by WinStar Stable, Mr. Hot Stuff is with Harty's stable at Keeneland. He could be sent to California for an allowance race or New York for the Belmont Stakes on June 6. Harty said he will assess the colt's condition before finalizing plans.
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Either or. Basically, no difference. I thought that was kind of funny to read.

he miraculously healed. :rolleyes:

or..maybe they overstated the inital injury?

TRIVIA QUESTION
What derby favorite's normal trip should be expected to produce an 18th finish?

Answer:
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kind of like when Mine That Bird's connections had their steed run worse than he really was at Sunland (to get 50-1 instead of 25-1), Jones probably had had Friesan Fire run better than he really is during the preps to really confuse the form.

Depending on the Belmont field, there may be no difference. Commendable's race was strictly allowance-ish.

Hell, if MTB doesn't come up and win the Derby, we have a Derby won with a 95 BSF. I see plenty of 3YO ALW races at GP that come up way stronger than that.

PS:

Harty needs to send this horse East, regardless if it is the Belmont or another race, where he might find a decent sized field on a surface that does not invite turf pacing. While I think it is fully appreciated that poly often kills speed horses, it also negatively impacts those dependent on such speed horses battling each other--the truly deep closers like Mr. Hot Stuff.

he didnt have any hoof injury.. just cut up his legs I guess.. lots of blood.

How did you get that upside down? I tried flipping my monitor over but it didn't work.

from bloodhorse:

Friesan Fire, who grabbed his quarter slightly and suffered several cuts while finishing 18th in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), will ship down to Pimlico next Monday from Delaware Park and will work on Tuesday under jockey Gabriel Saez to determine whether the colt will run in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I).


“It’s only an hour trip down and an hour trip back, so we’ll send him down Monday afternoon and work him Tuesday morning and then see where we stand,” trainer Larry Jones said. “He’s not a definite at this point, but he did heal up very fast and he tracked today at Delaware Park. So, we’ll see how he handles the track and what Gabriel says and then make up our mind.”


i knew i had seen that they said a grabbed quarter. i know just after the race, jones was extremely upset and angry-i thought at the time he was being overly dramatic about blood on the track, and the quarter. so, now it's a mild grab....quickly healed.

134th PREAKNESS

1. Big Drama (J. Velazquez/D. Fawkes) Swale S., 2nd
2. Flying Private (D.W. Lukas/A. Garcia) Kentucky Derby, 19th
3. Friesan Fire (G. Saez/L. Jones) Kentucky Derby, 18th
4. General Quarters (T. McCarthy/J. Leparoux) Kentucky Derby, 10th
5. Mine That Bird (B. Woolley/M. Smith) Kentucky Derby, 1st
6. Musket Man (D. Ryan/E. Coa) Kentucky Derby, 3rd
7. Papa Clem (G. Stute/R. Bejarano) Kentucky Derby, 4th
8. Pioneerof the Nile (B. Baffert/G. Gomez) Kentucky Derby, 2nd
9. Rachel Alexandra (S. Asmussen/C. Borel) Kentucky Oaks, 1st
10. Take the Points (T. Pletcher/E. Prado) Santa Anita Derby, 4th
11. Terrain (A. Stall Jr./J. Rose) Blue Grass S., 4th
12. Tone It Down (W. Komlo/K. Desormeaux) Tesio S., 3rd

This race is fascinating to me. You have the second to last and dead last finishers in the Derby (one who was the post time fave). Then you have the entire superfecta from the Derby, three of which who were north of 12-1 and the runner up who was 6-1. You also have Hull, who I think is an intriguing runner on the stretch out. And of course, Rachel Alexandra. It truly has been a whirlwind two weeks for racing.

co sign , Preakness is looking good

Very well said.
Some can whine that with Quality Road
and Revenge gone the triple crown races
are reduced to mediocrity but...

What really makes any race interesting is
the diversity of styles and backgrounds.
And the lead up races makes the background
info very interesting at this point in time.
You detailed that nicely imho.

Kasept, that's a great shot of Stymie. He was the ultimate Cinderella horse; claimed for $1500, he went on to head the US earnings list with $918,485. In those days, the Wood Memorial was $25K-added and so was the Pimlico Special and the JC Gold Cup. Post-WWII, when he was 5, purses went up, so that some of the big East Coast races went up to $50K added, even a couple to $75K or (gasp!) $100K. Still, the Met Mile was only $25K-added when he won it in at 6 and 7. By the way, Stymie was as good at 2 miles as he was at 1 mile. And he's in Sunday Silence's pedigree.

I've certainly seen trainers run their horses at distances and over trips that the horse had demonstrated it despises, often as the first off the layoff. Like a 2-turn turf horse starting in a dirt sprint. And running them way over their heads in a race at the right distance, with no obvious reason (like it won by 10 last out). Is that what you are talking about? Or more like putting the wrong equipment on him (changing the bit) or getting a new jock, and telling him the wrong way to ride him? None of it technically a violation of the rules, but the sort of thing that leads to suspicions of skulduggery.

For some reason, Stymie misses out on 'great horse' conversations. He was #41 on the B-H Top 100 which puts him ahead of many that seem to receive more mention.

From the pictures Ive seen of him....WOW...One of the best looking horses in history.

Al Stall signs Jeremy Rose up for Terrain.

Blinkers on I assume:rolleyes:

go to the whip at the 1/8th pole..:wf

http://drf.com/news/article/103677.html

Hull's out, opting for Woody Stephens.

NT

That's a downer. Thought Hull was a live one in this spot.

Arrggh.

Probably not a terrible idea though. I want to see him go two turns in a bad way.

Is this what you had in mind? Jeremy is in the yellow silks on the rail in the stretch..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NBFmTT50Y0

Not his finest moment but he swears it was an accident...

Big difference from the guy who used to be remembered for his recovery (or more so, the horse's recovery) during the Preakness.

NTRA's Preakness Greatest Moments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR1fs...eature=related

I think it's a good decision but it is worth noting that the Woody Stephens has a chance to be very salty. I was looking at the Preakness field for the first time last night and the first thing I thought when looking at Hull is that they have time to stretch him out and need not hurry.

I also like Big Drama and Hull not being in the race will help his chances.

NT

I think you're right about them having time -- they can find a good spot for him, and though I'm excited for him to stretch out, I'm perfectly happy with them finding something a little easier to see what he's made of around two turns. Would've loved the LS Derby for him, but I'm glad they're finding the spot they want with him.

Love the avatars

I'm disappointed. I think he's just OK at best... Would have liked to have seen him in there to draw dough.

Hull will skip the Preakness
 

PREAKNESS NOTES (5/11): Big Drama
 

BIG DRAMA – Jockey John Velazquez and Big Drama got acquainted at Pimlico Monday morning during a four-furlong workout that was timed in 50 seconds. The pair galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.60 in preparation for the Preakness Stakes.

Although the clocking wasn’t eye-catching, Velazquez was suitably impressed with the son of Montbrook.

“He did everything very, very easy. I just wanted to get a little feel for him. He was going to the pole a little bit strong, so I wanted to be a little cautious with him. The race is pretty close right now,” the New York-based jockey said.

“The reason I started slow was because he was going strong to the (half-mile) pole. I didn’t want him to do too much. If I let him go too fast the first part, I’d have no control of him. I wanted to have control of him to have him do what I wanted him to do, not him controlling me,” added Velazquez, who inherited his Preakness mount when Eibar Coa opted to stick with Kentucky Derby third-place finisher Musket Man.

Big Drama, who made a little jump over a spot in the track at the top of the stretch that had different harrow marks than the rest of the track, otherwise appeared to move well over the Pimlico racing surface.

“He didn’t want to leave his race on the track. I’d rather have (50 seconds) than go out there and go 46 (seconds) and get sick to your stomach,” trainer David Fawkes said. “He galloped out good. He’s fit. It was just maintenance.”

Velazquez said he was “shocked’ that Calvin Borel made a commitment to ride Rachel Alexandra instead of Mine That Bird in the Preakness, but that he could identify with him. Velazquez made a switch to Rags to Riches before her historic victory in the 2007 Belmont Stakes.

“I know the feeling that he has,” said Velazquez. “I jumped off another horse to ride her, because of the quality of horse that she was. So I already did it once. I didn’t win on that horse before, but I was committed to another horse. I just think he knows the filly has the quality to win this race. She’s showing the potential to do what Rags to Riches did.”

That is a good looking animal!

Completely agree , not to mention he may have softened the favorite a little on the front end.

Yea, that is a beautiful picture.

Valazquez is a good fit with Big Drama. JV likes to sit right up and outside of the pacemaker and that fits pretty well.

Is that Velasquez working a horse? Probably the only picture of its kind around.

His new top was still going to be below the rest of the runner.

He wont win the Preakness.

The Filly will bounce.

Pioneer of Thenile will win.

Tuesday at Pimlico

· Papa Clem will work at 7 am

· Friesan Fire scheduled for 8 am work. Trainer Larry Jones to decide on Preakness after breeze

· Big Drama has been here since last Tuesday. He has been going to the track at 6:30 am

· D. Wayne Lukas’ horses (Flying Private & Luv Gov) leaving Louisville at 4 am

· General Quarters scheduled to leave Churchill at 5 am

· Mine That Bird will leave Kentucky at 9 am

Van drivers tell us it is 10-11 hours from Churchill to Pimlico. Derby winner will get a police escort from Route 70, prior to the Baltimore Beltway into Old Hilltop.

So is Luv Gov still running if it doesn't shut Rachel out?

Yeah. Apparently..

Cool.
This will work out well when another
drunken brawl breaks out.

LOL, they have a typo in this article - listing Lukas as the jockey and the trainer as undecided:

http://www.drf.com/news/article/103693.html