Sea Hero Is Sharp, but So Are Turns : Preakness: Derby winner is second choice, behind Prairie Bayou. Traffic at Pimlico concerns trainer.

Trainer Mack Miller stood in a second-floor box seat at Pimlico Thursday morning, stopwatch in hand. Down on the track, where they will run the 118th Preakness on Saturday, Jerry Bailey was aboard Sea Hero, the Kentucky Derby winner.

Before Sea Hero’s three-furlong workout, Miller peered out at the egg-shaped Pimlico layout. “Those turns really are sharp, aren’t they?” he said.

Miller, 71, hasn’t been at Pimlico in a long time. By his reckoning, the New York-based trainer started a couple of horses here in the 1960s.

“The track looks good after all that rain (Wednesday night),” Miller said as Bailey escorted Sea Hero to the backstretch for the start of his workout. Miller clicked his watch twice, the first time as Sea Hero hit the wire, again as the colt galloped out past the finish line.

“I’ve got him in thirty-five and three (35 3/5 seconds),” Miller said. “I’ve got him out (for the half mile) in forty-eight and three.”

Officially, Sea Hero’s times were 35 1/5 for three furlongs and 48 2/5 for the extra eighth of a mile.

“I wanted him to do between 35 and 36, so this is what I wanted,” Miller said.

What Miller wants Saturday is another strong finish from Sea Hero, like the one that netted the Derby victory by 2 1/2 lengths over Prairie Bayou at Churchill Downs two weeks ago. Unlike some other Derby horses running in the Preakness, such as Union City, there is no droop to Sea Hero’s demeanor here. The workout bodes well for owner-breeder Paul Mellon’s colt, even though Pimlico’s configuration may not.

“He worked well,” said Bailey, whose confidence had wavered in Sea Hero after a pre-Derby workout. “More importantly, he felt more comfortable in this work than he did that time at Churchill. The turns are sharper than they are at Churchill, but this stretch (1,152 feet) is long. Traffic is our main concern. This is a long-striding colt, and if he gets stopped, he needs time to recover. In a race like this, there’s no time to recover.”

Before Sea Hero’s workout, and before the post-position draw for the Preakness later in the morning, Miller said that he thought Prairie Bayou deserved to be the favorite in the Preakness. The two colts have split two meetings, with Prairie Bayou winning the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, where Sea Hero ran fourth.

Eric Johnston, Pimlico’s linemaker, agreed with Miller, installing Prairie Bayou as the 3-1 favorite and making Sea Hero the 7-2 second choice. It is not altogether unusual for the Derby winner to go off as a non-favorite in the Preakness.

Just last year, Lil E. Tee was the second betting choice, when favored Pine Bluff won the Preakness. And in 1989, Preakness bettors declined to validate Sunday Silence’s victory over Easy Goer in the Derby, and made Easy Goer the 3-5 favorite. Sunday Silence won and Easy Goer was second.

There was one surprise at entry time Thursday, with Hegar, winner of the Everglades Stakes at Hialeah only last Saturday, bringing the field to 12. Sea Hero drew the No. 9 post and Prairie Bayou came up with No. 3, which shouldn’t affect their chances because they come from off the pace.

The speed horses are either inside or outside, and Personal Hope, who could be the early leader, drew No. 1, the worst spot of all. Winner of the Santa Anita Derby and fourth in the Kentucky Derby, Personal Hope is the 9-2 third choice, but he will be breaking from a spot that hasn’t produced a Preakness winner since Bally Ache, who led all the way in a four-length triumph in 1960.

“The one hole was the one place I wouldn’t have wanted to be,” said Mark Hennig, Personal Hope’s trainer. “But with the two (speed) horses (Koluctoo Jimmy Al and Cherokee Run) being out there in the 11 and 12 holes, it may end up being beneficial. We had the one hole in the Santa Anita Derby and he handled it fine.

“Being inside here doesn’t change our strategy at all. Our strategy has always been to let him run away from there and establish himself. If he breaks well Saturday, the quality speed in the race is going to have to use their horses to stay with him for the first eighth of a mile.”

Personal Hope will be ridden for the seventh consecutive race by Gary Stevens. The rest of the field, in post-position order with jockeys and odds, consists of El Bakan, Craig Perret, 20-1; Prairie Bayou, Mike Smith, 3-1; Hegar, Jose Ferrer, 20-1; Too Wild, Herb McCauley, 20-1; Union City, Pat Valenzuela, 15-1; Woods Of Windsor, Rick Wilson, 8-1; Rockamundo, Edgar Prado, 20-1; Sea Hero, Bailey, 7-2; Wild Gale, Shane Sellers, 8-1; Koluctoo Jimmy Al, Chris McCarron, 10-1; and Cherokee Run, Pat Day, 12-1.

All horses will carry 126 pounds, the same weight as in the Kentucky Derby, and the purse for the 1 3/16-mile race totals $725,900, with $471,835 going to the winner. The weather forecast for Saturday is for temperatures near 80, with a late thunderstorm not expected until after the Preakness has been run.

Preakness Stakes

The field for Saturday’s 118th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Track in Baltimore.

No. Horse Jockey Odds 1. Personal Hope Stevens 9-2 2. El Bakan Perret 20 3. Prairie Bayou Smith 3 4. Hegar Ferrer 20 5. Too Wild McCauley 20 6. Union City Valenzuela 15 7. Woods Of Windsor Wilson 8 8. Rockamundo Prado 20 9. Sea Hero Bailey 7-2 10. Wild Gale Sellers 8 11. Koluctoo Jimmy Al McCarron 10 12. Cherokee Run Day 12

Weights: Each 126 pounds. Distance: 1 3/16 miles. Purse: $845,900 if 12 start. First place: $549,835. Post time: 2:32 p.m. PDT.