ShareThisBy CLIFF GUILLIAMS
Scripps Howard News Service
Monday, May 14, 2007
The known versus the unknown.
That's next Saturday's story line in Baltimore, where the 132nd Preakness Stakes will match 3-year-old colts going 1-3/16 miles.
Representing the known are Street Sense and Hard Spun, one-two finishers on May 5 in Kentucky Derby 133. Third-finishing Curlin was nearly six lengths behind Hard Spun and had no influence on the outcome.
Street Sense will likely face 10 challengers, including Hard Spun. That duo is a cut above the rest and battle tested. Combined, they've won nine of 14 starts with three seconds, two thirds and $3.8 million in earnings. That's chicken feed to what they'll fetch in year's to come as stallions, especially Hard Spun, who, as one of the last sons of Danzig, will be highly coveted.
In the Derby, Street Sense exhibited athleticism, benefited from a golden rail trip and won going away by 2-1/4 lengths.
The stars were aligned for him to pass 17 rivals on the rail. But don't think for an instant he needed the rail or was lucky to win. He could easily have come around horses and gotten the job done.
Hard Spun, meantime, proved critics who questioned his distance ability wrong. After making all the early pace, he wasn't stopping. Street Sense simply rolled from the back.
In the Preakness, run at a 16th-of-a-mile less than the Derby, Hard Spun doesn't have to be on the lead. Trainer Larry Jones prefers he isn't, but it may be necessary. If jockey Mario Pino can harness his speed, watch out.
In the days to come, you'll hear about the Preakness being shorter than the Derby. How a speed horse can steal it. How Pimlico's tighter turns compromise a come-from-behind horse.
Forget about it. As the great Hall of Famer Angel Cordero Jr., says, "if you're good enough, you can win it from the parking lot....'
Street Sense, who can be positioned anywhere, will be the Preakness favorite. He is a fine colt, gives everything he has, does it willingly and has lots to give. His pedigree with respect to the classic distances is solid, and he's in the hands of a two-time Derby winning horseman, Carl Nafzger, who is immune to the pressure and pitfalls of the classics.
In their first Derby attempt, Jones and wife Cindy, left a lasting impression. It would come as no surprise if Western Kentucky's first racing couple wins the Preakness and makes it back to future Derbys.
The "unknowns" expected to challenge for the Black-Eyed Susans (actually daisies with the center painted black) are Mint Slewlep (fourth in Aqueduct's Withers), Teuflesberg (17th in the Derby), King of the Roxy, Xchanger, Flying First Class, Starbase, Derby third Curlin, C P West, Chelokee and Sedgefield (fifth in the Derby).
The Preakness field is limited to 14. Most will be out for air, get hot and dirty and bypass the June 9 Belmont Stakes.
(Contact Cliff Guilliams of The Evansville Courier in Indiana at www.evansville.net.)
