Hansel Tries Again, This Time in Preakness

Hansel, who ran 10th after going off the favorite in the Kentucky Derby, will run in the Preakness Stakes Saturday at Pimlico, trainer Frank Brothers said Tuesday.

That makes an eight-horse field for the second race in the Triple Crown series, and Jeff Weissman, the Pimlico handicapper, issued this tentative morning line: Strike The Gold 9-5, Olympio 5-2, Best Pal 7-2, Hansel 9-2, Mane Minister 12-1, Corporate Report 15-1, Honor Grades 20-1 and Whadjathink 30-1.

Hansel, who was shipped to Brothers’ barn at Arlington International Racecourse in Arlington Heights, Ill., after the Derby on May 4, worked three furlongs Tuesday in a quick 34 3/5 seconds. He will be vanned to Pimlico and is scheduled to arrive this morning. Jerry Bailey, who rode Hansel in the Derby, retains the mount.

Honor Grades worked faster than trainer Rodney Rash wanted Tuesday when he breezed five furlongs in 58 3/5 seconds. “We have four days to come back from it,” Rash said. “It doesn’t worry me. Actually, I was kind of glad to see him have the spunk to run along like that.”

Lite Light, the filly who won the Kentucky Oaks in stakes-record time, will be flown to New York from Louisville, Ky., Friday and probably will run in the Belmont Stakes on June 8.

Lite Light, who has won three consecutive stakes--the Santa Anita Oaks, the Fantasy at Oaklawn Park and the Kentucky Oaks--since she was bought from Jack Finley for an estimated $1.2 million by the M.C. Hammer family, was not nominated for the Triple Crown and would have to be supplemented to the Belmont, the third race in the series, at a cost of $50,000.

Lite Light is a bleeder who runs with Lasix, but because of New York rules, she would not be able to be treated with the diuretic to run in the Belmont. She bled for the first time while running 12th in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Belmont.

Lite Light would become the 20th filly to run in the Belmont. Ruthless won the first running, in 1867, and the only other filly to win was Tanya in 1905.

Opening Verse, who beat Itsallgreektome by a nose in the Early Times Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on May 3, will carry 118 pounds Friday in the Early Times Dixie Handicap at Pimlico. Silver Medallion, with 120 pounds, is the high weight in the nine-horse field for the 1 1/8-mile grass race.