BALTIMORE – Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey admitted to allowing himself to dream about the possibility of going for a Triple Crown with Kentucky Derby winner Orb in the June 8 Belmont Stakes.
“I tried to focus on today the whole time, but I wouldn’t be telling you the truth if I didn’t think down the line a little bit,” McGaughey said. “I thought if we could get it done today, that going back to Belmont, we would really be comfortable there, and we would really have a big chance.”
D. Wayne Lukas has won the Preakness six times:
Oxbow, 2013
Charismatic, 1999
Timber Country, 1995
Tabasco Cat, 1994
Tank’s Prospect, 1985
Codex, 1980
Jockey Gary Stevens, has won the Preakness three times:
Oxbow, 2013
Point Given, 2001
Silver Charm, 1997
BALTIMORE - Below is the complete order of finish for the Grade 1, $1 million Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday:
1. Oxbow
2. Itsmyluckyday
3. Mylute
4. Orb
5. Goldencents
6. Departing
7. Will Take Charge
8. Govenor Charlie
9. Titletown Five
SHAKOPEE, Minn. – Heliskier went postward as the 2-5 favorite in the $50,000 10,000 Lakes, the longest odds since his 2012 debut in a statebred allowance, and proved that even those odds were too high with a 5 1/2-length win that moved his record to 7 for 7.
Longshot Willow Parish challenged Heliskier early in the six-furlong race for Minnesota-bred 3-year-olds and up before succumbing after two furlongs. The 2012 Canterbury horse of the year, Heliskier kept a two-length lead through the turn for home when Speakfromyourheart under Lori Keith ranged up alongside.
Za Approval, a gray horse whose hair has gone nearly white, usually is not hard to pick out in a race, but so buried was he in traffic Saturday at Monmouth Park during the Red Bank Stakes that the striking coat was difficult to locate. But, finally extricated from trouble at the top of the stretch, there came Za Approval, running down another light gray horse, Tune Me In, to win the Red Bank in a game performance.
BALTIMORE – On a gray day at Pimlico, the Sunshine Boys ruled.
Jockey Gary Stevens, who came out of a seven-year retirement in January, and trainer D. Wayne Lukas, still going strong at age 77, put added shine on their Hall of Fame careers and put an end to the Triple Crown aspirations of Orb by teaming to win the138th Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course with the 15-1 longshot Oxbow.
Glorious View became a graded stakes winner in her first try, gamely turning back a stretch-long bid from Fantasy of Flight to register a hard-fought, half-length decision in Saturday’s $200,000 Vagrancy Handicap at Belmont Park. Withgreatpleasure finished third.
Glorious View, a 4-year-old daughter of Pleasant Tap, entered the Grade 2 Vagrancy off three consecutive one-sided victories at Aqueduct, all under regular rider Junior Alvarado. Each of those wins came at six furlongs. She stretched out to 6 1/2 furlongs for her stakes debut in the Vagrancy.
Missy Rules and Ile St. Molly each upset a division of the Our Mims Stakes on Saturday’s opening day of the Delaware Park meeting the same way - grabbing a clear early lead and never relinquishing it. Missy Rules won the first division of the Our Mims, the sixth race, while Ile St. Molly won the second division, the eighth race. Each division was for 3-year-old fillies going a mile on the main track.
BALTIMORE – Trainer D. Wayne Lukas had the competition surrounded in the Grade 2, $300,000 Dixie Stakes at Pimlico on Saturday, sending out Skyring to a wire-to-wire win at 24-1 and uncoupled stablemate Optimizer to a third-place finish. The horses were split by Willcox Inn.
“It was wonderful,” Lukas said of the efforts from the horses he trains for Calumet Farm.
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The favored Bear’s Gem notched her first stakes while registering her fifth straight victory Saturday at Woodbine in the $126,200 Ballade, a six-furlong dash for Ontario-sired females.
Bear’s Gem ($6.20) awaited room at the five-sixteenths pole and then followed a stalking Dance to the Moon exiting the turn before kicking clear to prevail by 1 3/4 lengths in 1:11.08. Dance to the Moon finished a clear second over Grace Phil, who edged out Hurricane Lorraine for third in the bulky 11-horse field.
