Star Standard Is Special for Zito at Pimlico

Maybe it’s just 3-year-olds that hold bad luck for Nick Zito at Pimlico in Baltimore.

Older horses, now, that’s another matter.

Zito, who has saddled five horses who have failed to win the Preakness, had his second Pimlico Special winner in three tries Saturday when Pat Day rode Star Standard to a three-quarter-length victory over Key Of Luck in the $582,000 race.

Star Standard covered 1 3/16 miles in 1:54 2/5 over a track that had been downgraded from fast to muddy in less than an hour after a heavy thunderstorm. Star Standard, a 4-year-old, has run eight races on off tracks, winning three and finishing second or third in three others. None of the others in the four-horse field had run more than once on a wet track.

Day followed Zito’s instructions to “just blast off” and outraced Key Of Luck past the stands the first time, getting the lead and position on the rail as they moved into the first turn.

Star Standard paid $13.40 and $4. Key Of Luck paid $4.80 to place. There was no show wagering.

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Day may have won on Saturday, but he lost the mount on Prince Of Thieves for the Preakness.

Trainer Wayne Lukas replaced Day with jockey Jerry Bailey, who rode Grindstone to victory in the Kentucky Derby. Grindstone has since been retired because of a bone chip in his knee.

“It’s not a reflection on anything,” Lukas said. “[Bailey] was available, and I think he’s riding superbly right now.”

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Natural Selection, ridden by Randy Romero, broke from the inside post and led wire-to-wire without being seriously challenged in the Grade II Illinois Derby at Sportsman’s Park in Chicago.

Natural Selection ran the 1 1/8 miles in 1:48 3/5, and trainer Mohammed Moubarek said the colt will run in the Belmont Stakes.