‘Quest Begins With a Late Start

The last horse to hit town will be the first horse out of the gate in Saturday’s Preakness at Pimlico.

Whether Coronado’s Quest is the first horse to reach the wire is another matter. The flashy Wood Memorial winner is the 2-1 favorite on the morning line, and many recent favorites have stumbled in the Preakness. It’s not as outlandish as the Kentucky Derby, which hasn’t produced a winning favorite in 19 years, but 12 of the last 16 Preakness favorites have been beaten.

“I like the idea of having a fresh horse,” said Shug McGaughey, who trains Coronado’s Quest. “If he runs his race, he’ll be a very, very tough horse to beat.”

Trainer Bob Baffert, who pulled off the Derby-Preakness double with Silver Charm last year, is shooting for the same back-to-back victories with Real Quiet, who was 8-1 at Churchill Downs and is the 5-2 second choice for Saturday.

“I didn’t want to see Coronado’s Quest run,” Baffert said. “He’s a fresh horse, he’s tough and he’s got speed.”

Coronado’s Quest also drew an inside post--No. 4 in an 11-horse field--while Real Quiet will break from the extreme outside for the 1 3/16-mile trip.

“I’m afraid of [Real Quiet’s post position] more than any of the other horses,” Baffert said. “At least the fans in the cheap seats will get a good look at the Kentucky Derby winner as he goes by. But we’re going to need extra racing luck because of the post.”

Many horsemen say the only way the high-strung Coronado’s Quest can lose is to beat himself. Before the Wood five weeks ago, McGaughey’s colt was a nervous wreck in Florida, a prerace hazard to himself, his jockey and any other horse within range. Before one race, he darted pell-mell through the tunnel that separates the paddock and the track, moving at a speed that horses usually save for their stretch drive. Before the Florida Derby, his substitute jockey, Robbie Davis, had to bail out, moving from the saddle of the reared-up Coronado’s Quest to the back of a nearby pony. Davis didn’t even touch the ground; if those gymnastics ever become an Olympic event, he will get straight 10s from the judges for degree of difficulty.

Coronado’s Quest left his race in the tunnel that day, finishing fifth in the Florida Derby, and after the race McGaughey’s problems seemed to mount when a throat examination indicated that the colt had displaced his palate, causing a breathing problem, during the race.

“As he started to go past Lil’s Lad [who finished first before being disqualified], Robbie said he threw his head,” McGaughey said. “Then he heard a heavy breathing noise the rest of the way.”

Mark Cheney, a veterinarian, performed six minutes of surgery on Coronado’s Quest, an epiglottis operation that helped Alysheba, the winner of the Derby and the Preakness in 1987. In his only race since the surgery, Coronado’s Quest behaved like a Boy Scout, not only winning the Wood but running 1 1/8 miles in 1:47 2/5, the second-fastest time for the stake at that distance. McGaughey and Stuart Janney III, the Marylander who races Coronado’s Quest, are telling themselves that perhaps it was the colt’s throat problem that caused prerace tantrums.

Still, McGaughey is handling Coronado’s Quest differently than he might most horses. The Wood usually sets up a good horse for the Kentucky Derby, but Coronado’s Quest skipped Churchill Downs because McGaughey didn’t want to see the colt come unhinged before 140,000 people. A crowd of more than 90,000 is expected for the Preakness, but McGaughey sees an edge in that the horses will be saddled on the turf course in the infield. It won’t be as far from the paddock to the track for the post parade.

Coronado’s Quest, who has never run at Pimlico while assembling a record of six wins and two seconds in 10 starts, won’t arrive here until about 7 a.m. Saturday. He’ll leave his home track at Belmont Park, 200 miles to the north, at 3 a.m. and make a four-hour van ride to Baltimore.

Last-minute shipping usually doesn’t bother horses the way a businessman might be in disarray after blowing in on an airplane for an important meeting. Deputed Testamony, the last horse to win the Preakness without running in the Derby, was taken by van to Pimlico on race day from his Maryland farm in 1983. In 1994, Richard Small, a Maryland trainer, had Concern driven all the way to Kentucky from Pimlico and the colt won the Breeders’ Cup Classic after reaching Churchill Downs on the morning of the race.

Other trainers, including Baffert and Wayne Lukas, who’s running both Cape Town and the overmatched Baquero on Saturday, have indicated that they might balk at Coronado’s Quest getting any special treatment from the Pimlico management before the Preakness.

“When we won the Preakness with Tabasco Cat [in 1994], it took three Texas cowboys and the Marlboro man to get him to be saddled,” Lukas said. “Editor’s Note was no bargain the year [1996] he won the Belmont, either. But this goes with the territory. You do what you have to do to get your horse over there, without asking for any special treatment.”

McGaughey hasn’t asked Pimlico for anything--yet--but apparently one of his options is for Coronado’s Quest to follow the other 10 starters from the barn to the saddling area. McGaughey is also bringing the same outrider and pony from New York who’ve had good luck ponying the colt before two races there.

Mike Smith will be riding again, after Davis took over for the Florida Derby and the Wood. Early on March 14, which was Florida Derby day, Smith went down in a spill at Gulfstream Park, breaking his shoulder in three places. The veteran jockey returned to action Wednesday at Belmont Park, riding Jersey Girl to victory in the Nassau County Stakes.

“I’m feeling good,” Smith said Thursday from a gym where he’s continuing rehabilitation. “There are no after-effects.”

Smith used to ride quarter horses, and he likens Coronado’s Quest’s acceleration from the gate with the breed that runs shorter distances than thoroughbreds. Lukas’ Baquero may be the only other Preakness horse to tangle with Coronado’s Quest early, but Baffert isn’t kidding himself.

“Coronado’s Quest is the only classy speed in the race,” Baffert said. “That other horse [Baquero] might run with him for maybe three-eighths of a mile, but that’s not enough. I wish there was somebody in there that could take him farther.”

Smith, 32, won the 1993 Preakness with Prairie Bayou, then was a helpless passenger three weeks later in the Belmont. Prairie Bayou broke down on the backstretch and was euthanized. Now Smith was being asked about his thoughts going into this Preakness.

“[His antics] will be the last thing I’ll be thinking about,” Smith said. “If he does anything, I’ll play the hand I’m dealt with. I’ll just have to play it by ear if anything happens.”

Horse Racing Notes

After one of the wettest Mays on record, the sun is shining in Baltimore and the forecast for Saturday is 80-degree weather, no rain and a fast track. . . . Today’s $200,000 Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico drew a weak field of 3-year-old fillies. The favorites are Silent Eskimo, winner of the Fantasy at Oaklawn Park, and Added Gold, who has never run in a stake. . . . Trainer Bill Mott and jockey Jerry Bailey will try to win the $100,000 Gallorette Handicap with Sopran Mariduff, an Italian import who’s undefeated in three starts in Florida. . . . Bob and Beverly Lewis, who race Silver Charm and own Baquero, a 20-1 shot in the Preakness, won Thursday’s $79,250 Miss Preakness Stakes with Storm Beauty. Trained by Wayne Lukas and ridden by Charlie Woods, she won by 2 1/2 lengths, running six furlongs in 1:10 4/5, and paid $3.80 for $2.

Preakness Post Positions

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PP Horse Jockey Odds 1. Spartan Cat Wilson 30-1 2. Black Cash Sellers 20-1 3. Classic Cat Albarado 12-1 4. Coronado’s Quest Smith 2-1 5. Cape Town Bailey 5-1 6. Basic Trainee Velasquez 99-1 7. Baquero Day 20-1 8. Hot Wells Prado 30-1 9. Silver’s Prospect Douglas 99-1 10. Victory Gallop Stevens 3-1 11. Real Quiet Desormeaux 5-2

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