Handlers of Kentucky Derby upset winner ponder Preakness

Mine That Bird trainer Bennie “Chip” Woolley, as well as co-owners Mark Allen and Leonard Blach, were so stunned by their horse’s victory in the Kentucky Derby that the thought of running him in the Preakness really hadn’t been even considered until Saturday night.

“It’s actually a little bit hard to get your mind around,” Woolley said. “It’s hard to believe you came in here and won this thing.”

How much sleep did Woolley get after celebrating the win?

“Very little,” he said. “We had a lot of fun last night.”

Allen, in fact, confessed that he hadn’t even been to bed yet when speaking with reporters at 7 a.m. Sunday outside Mine That Bird’s barn at Churchill Downs.

But now the sleep-deprived trio of New Mexico cowboys faces a difficult decision: Should they give the late-charging horse another outside shot at stunning the field, or hold him off and prepare for the Belmont Stakes? After all, his sire, Birdstone, won the Belmont Stakes in 2004, running down Smarty Jones on the back stretch. This is a horse bred for distance.

Woolley told reporters that it’s no sure thing for Mine That Bird to run in the Preakness. He, Allen and Blach would have to talk it over, see how the horse recovers from the Derby and make a decision over the next few days.

“The horse’s come back super so far, but we’ll decide [about the Preakness] after we have a little discussion,” Woolley said. “The Preakness really wasn’t on our radar. . . . There’s no obligation. You’ve got to do what’s best for the horse. The horse has got to come first, so we’ll see what happens.”

The last horse to win the Derby and skip the Preakness was Grindstone in 1996, but those were different circumstances. Grindstone was injured between the two races and retired. In 1985, the handlers of Spend a Buck decided to instead compete in the Jersey Derby. The Kentucky Derby winner has also won the Preakness seven times in the last 12 years.

Does Mine That Bird even have the speed to compete at Pimlico, the shortest of the three Triple Crown races?

“I don’t know,” Woolley said. “The Preakness tends to be a little more speed biased, and I don’t know if that’s going to fit our horse all that well.”

Bob Baffert, trainer of Derby runner-up Pioneerof the Nile, said he’ll take about a week to decide whether his horse will go to Baltimore, but that his intention is to run him if he’s healthy.

Papa Clem, who finished fourth in the Derby and is trained by Gary Stute, will be at Pimlico. Stute announced that his horse is in the Preakness for sure, and that he expects to be a contender.

“I looked at the charts this morning and I was only beaten a nose and a head for second,” Stute said. “To be honest, Baffert’s horse came over and bumped me. If it were a normal race, there might have been an inquiry. With any luck, we could have been second.”

Freisan Fire, who looked like a Derby contender but finished 18th, has an uncertain Preakness future. Cindy Jones, wife of trainer Larry Jones, said that the horse would need to recover from an injury that occurred early in the Derby. He grabbed a quarter early in the race, which is the term for when the back foot strikes the back of one of the front hooves.

“He looks almost like he has a floor burn, like when basketball players dive on the floor and take the skin off,” she said. “He was bleeding pretty good front left. He also had a big piece of black [leg] wrap under his horseshoe. It wouldn’t come out. We had to pull the nails out to get it out.”

It was hard, though, for anyone to focus on anything else besides the incredible tale of Mine That Bird and his owners, especially since it kept getting better Sunday morning. Blach informed reporters that Allen and Woolley had been childhood buddies, but left the origins of their friendship vague when reporters asked about it.

“I don’t know if we’re allowed to tell that story,” Blach said.

After he was pressed a bit, Allen said that he and Woolley became close only after Woolley came to his defense in a bar fight more than 25 years ago.

“I started a fight and he helped me out,” Allen said, with a grin as big as his bagel-sized belt buckle. Did they win?

“We wound up on top,” Allen said. “But it took us a while.”

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kevin.vanvalkenburg@baltsun.com