PREAKNESS : Favorite Is Hard to Pick as 2nd Leg of Triple Crown Nears Starting Gate

Saturday’s 115th Preakness is so difficult to pick that few people are sure who will be the favorite.

A Baltimore Evening Sun poll of reporters at Pimlico last week for the Pimlico Special indicated that half of them rated Kentucky Derby winner Unbridled as the post-time Preakness choice. The other half went for Summer Squall, who had been the second choice in the Derby and was runner-up there, 3 1/2 lengths behind Unbridled.

Ignored was Mister Frisky, the Derby favorite who ran eighth at Louisville to the disappointment of racing fans in Puerto Rico, where he had won 13 consecutive races before coming to the United States.

American racing abounds with excuses for the losers. Summer Squall was believed to have been scared by the loud noise in the Churchill Downs infield when he reached the stretch.

The chart caller for the Daily Racing Form reported Pleasant Tap was “in close at the start” of the Derby, but that hardly figures to make up for his 9 1/2-length loss.

Trainer Laz Barrera said Mister Frisky might have won had he been able to handle the drying-out racing strip, rated as good. Barrera said he expects Mister Frisky to rebound from his disappointing performance in the Derby with a big race in the Preakness.

Land Rush, seventh in the Derby, had to be checked on the far turn.

A field of 12 3-year-olds is expected for the 1 3/16-mile Preakness. Besides Unbridled, Summer Squall, Mister Frisky and Land Rush, only one other Derby starter is expected for the Preakness--Pleasant Tap, who was third.

A victory by Unbridled, owned by 92-year-old Frances Genter, who raced horses for 50 years before finally getting a Derby starter, would put him in line to become the 12th Triple Crown winner. The last was Affirmed in 1978, and since then Spectacular Bid, 1979; Pleasant Colony, 1981; Alysheba, 1987, and Sunday Silence have failed by losing in the Belmont.

A large field, the tight turns and the fact that Unbridled is a one-run horse that likes to come from far off the pace, could keep the Derby winner from being the favorite.

Craig Perret kept Unbridled out of trouble in the Derby, and the colt moved from sixth going into the final turn to a close second behind Summer Squall coming out of the turn.

Summer Squall will not run in the Belmont even if he wins the Preakness, said Cot Campbell, president of Dogwood Stable, which manages the 28-member partnership that owns the colt.

Summer Squall, who bled during a workout in February, races on Lasix, a diuretic, and Campbell said he and trainer Neil Howard agree that it would be best to rest the colt for the summer before racing him without Lasix in the fall in New York, which doesn’t allow horses to race on any medication. The Breeders Cup races will be held Oct. 25 at Belmont Park.

Unbridled also races on Lasix. Trainer Carl Nafzger said he felt he could get ready to run without the medication if he chooses to send the colt to the Belmont.

A newcomer to the Triple Crown competition who should prompt the pace is Champagneforashley, who won the first five starts of his career, then finished third in the Wood Memorial April 21 at Aqueduct.

Other Preakness probables include Kentucky Jazz, Music Prospector, Fighting Notion, Baron DaVaux, Hawaiian Pass and J. R.’s Horizon.

Kentucky Jazz is a D. Wayne Lukas-trained stablemate of Land Rush.

Champagneforashley was bumped in the Wood Memorial and wound up third, beaten a length by Thirty Six Red.

The Racing Form says Music Prospector raced slightly wide when running second to Stalwart Champ in the California Derby.

The trainer of J. R.’s Horizon says he wrote off that colt’s sixth-place finish in the Woodlawn Stakes to Baron de Vaux. It was on the turf.

Others come off winning races. Baron de Vaux won the Woodlawn by a nose. Fighting Notion won an allowance race at Pimlico by 20 lengths. Kentucky Jazz won an allowance race at Churchill Downs by 11 lengths.