Derby Winner to Stay in Barn Far From Crowd at Pimlico

Trainer Neil Drysdale didn’t make an early trip to Baltimore simply to sample the crabs.

Leaving his Kentucky Derby winner, Fusaichi Pegasus, back at Churchill Downs, Drysdale flew into Baltimore Sunday for what he had described as a “reconnaissance” of Pimlico Race Course, where the 125th Preakness will be run Saturday.

After touring the grounds with Lenny Hale, the vice president for racing at Pimlico, Drysdale said that Fusaichi Pegasus will be stabled this week at a barn on the backstretch, instead of the Preakness stakes barn where the Derby winner is usually found. The Preakness barn, on the edge of a smaller section of barns, is on Pimlico’s front side, where the administrative offices, the track kitchen and the press parking lot are located. The barn Fusaichi Pegasus will be occupying, starting Wednesday when he is flown to Baltimore from Louisville, is about a half-mile from the Preakness barn.

Preakness horses have been stabled on the Pimlico backstretch before, but seldom has a winner of the race been based anywhere but stall 40 at Barn E, the official designation for the Preakness barn. The last Preakness winner not stabled at Barn E was Deputed Testamony, who was vanned into Pimlico from a farm in Harford County, Md., the day of the race. The last winner of the Preakness to be stabled away from the stakes barn is believed to be Northern Dancer, in 1964.

Fusaichi Pegasus, perfectly behaved on Derby day after prerace conjecture that the colt might not be able to handle the huge crowd, is a horse that seems to enjoy his privacy. The Pimlico backstretch, away from the large media contingent, barn tours for the public and the inevitable hangers-on, seems to answer this need.

“There’s a bit more room [on the backstretch] and it’s the quietest part [of the track],” said Drysdale, who has never had a Preakness starter. “I made this trip because I’m not that familiar with Pimlico. I was at Pimlico once in the Preakness barn. I think it was for the Dixie Handicap, and the horse didn’t run very well. That’s probably why I can’t remember.”

Fusaichi Pegasus is scheduled to have a workout at Churchill Downs either today or Tuesday. Six to 10 horses will run in the middle leg of the Triple Crown. Besides Fusaichi Pegasus, definitely in are High Yield, Hal’s Hope, Red Bullet, Snuck In and Hugh Hefner, who still doesn’t have a jockey. Captain Steve, who will occupy the stall that normally houses the Derby winner, appears to be in, although his trainer, Bob Baffert, wants to see his colt work today at Churchill before he’s certain. Wheelaway’s trainer, John Kimmel, is also leaning toward running, and the other possible entries are More Than Ready and Impeachment, both trained by Todd Pletcher and the third- and fourth-place finishers in the Derby. The Derby runner-up, Aptitude, will skip the Preakness in favor of running in the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown, in New York on June 10.

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At Hollywood Park Sunday, Kent Desormeaux, who won the Derby with Fusaichi Pegasus, continued to play a hot hand, although the favored Penny Marie, his mount in the $107,900 Wilshire Handicap, was outrun by Tout Charmant in the stretch. Tout Charmant, running for her new owners, Bob and Janice McNair of Stonerside Stable, beat Penny Marie by three-quarters of a length, paying $7.20 as the second choice and running the mile on grass in 1:33 4/5.

After the Wilshire, Desormeaux won the last two races on the card, one of them aboard Keemoon, a French-bred Drysdale trainee who won for the first time in the U.S. Winning at a 30% clip, Desormeaux has bagged 12 winners through the first 13 days of the meet to lead the standings.

Tout Charmant, who earned $64,740 in the Wilshire while carrying high weight of 121 pounds, was making his first start for the McNairs and trainer Ron McAnally.

The Wilshire was Tout Charmant’s first start since her eighth-place finish in the Matriarch at Hollywood Park more than five months ago.

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Desormeaux will ride at Hollywood Park Wednesday, then head to Baltimore, where he has mounts on the two cards before Preakness day. He’ll ride Magicalmysterycat in Thursday’s $100,000 Miss Preakness Stakes and has the assignment on Jostle on Friday in the $200,000 Black-Eyed Susan. One of Desormeaux’s Preakness-day mounts is Yes It’s True in the $100,000 Maryland Breeders’ Cup Handicap.

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Instead of returning this summer, Mighty will be sidelined until the fall and his 3-year-old season may even be over. Winner of the Louisiana Derby, Mighty suffered a knee injury in the Blue Grass Stakes, a month before the Derby.