Making the First Move

The first time Jerry Bailey rode Arcangues, the sore-backed French import won the 1993 Breeders’ Cup Classic and paid $269.20 for $2.

The first time Bailey rode Black Tie Affair, he won the 1991 Breeders’ Cup Classic, the horse clinching horse-of-the-year honors.

In 1996, Bailey boarded Grindstone for the first time and won the Louisiana Derby. A month and a half later, Bailey rode Grindstone to victory in the Kentucky Derby.

The pattern is there. The message is spot-on. Put Jerry Bailey on a horse he has never ridden and there’s no difference: The Hall of Fame jockey is just as effective with newcomers as he is with horses he rides all the time.

Two weeks ago at Churchill Downs, trainer Bobby Frankel put Bailey on Flute for the first time, and they won the Kentucky Oaks.

So today, in the 126th running of the Preakness at Pimlico, trainer Bob Baffert is hoping that Bailey’s first-time lightning strikes again. Bailey and Congaree--along with nine other horses--will be trying to halt Monarchos’ Triple Crown march in the middle leg of the series.

Monarchos, the Kentucky Derby winner, is the 2-1 morning-line favorite. A victory would set him up for a potential sweep in the Belmont Stakes in New York on June 9.

Baffert’s horses, disappointments in the Derby, are the second and third choices now. Congaree, third at Churchill Downs, is 5-2, and Point Given, fifth after going off favored in the Derby, is 3-1. After that, the preliminary odds jump to A P Valentine and Richly Blended, both at 10-1. Pimlico officials are predicting a record crowd of more than 100,000. Temperatures in the mid-70s and a fast track are in store.

Victor Espinoza may be getting a tad paranoid about Bailey. It was Espinoza whom Bailey replaced on Flute in the Oaks. It will be Espinoza off, Bailey on for Congaree’s Preakness run. Espinoza has another mount for today’s 1 3/16-mile race, but his horse, A P Valentine, will shock most of the handicappers if he wins.

There were some unheard-of opening fractions in the Derby, the first half-mile flying by in :44 4/5 and six furlongs taking only 1:09 1/5, and Congaree was on the muscle, faced with carrying that torrid speed 1 1/4 miles in a 17-horse field. Monarchos and jockey Jorge Chavez sat back and rallied to beat them all.

While making the rider change on Congaree, Baffert sympathized with Espinoza’s predicament in the Derby. Congaree was making only his fifth start.

“He’s a very difficult horse to ride,” Baffert said. “Maybe Jerry can slow down the pace in the Preakness.”

It was virtually inevitable that Bailey and Congaree would at last get together. Baffert wanted the 43-year-old jockey to ride the colt in his second start, a maiden race on Feb. 28 at Santa Anita. Bailey recalls having a previous commitment at Gulfstream Park. Congaree won that race easily--with Espinoza aboard for the first time--and Baffert again offered the mount to Bailey in an allowance at Santa Anita on March 17. Bailey says he was tied up at Hialeah that day. Again, Congaree won impressively with Espinoza.

Next was Congaree’s first stake, the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, and Baffert said that he “begged” Bailey to ride his horse.

“What happened,” Bailey said, “is that Bob waited a long time to decide whether he was going to run the horse in the Wood or not. By the time he decided that’s where he was going to go, I had agreed to ride Hero’s Tribute in the Blue Grass [at Keeneland] the same day.”

Not long after Espinoza rode Congaree to a convincing victory in the Wood, Millennium Wind won the Blue Grass and Bailey brought up the rear with Hero’s Tribute, a finish that knocked that colt out of the Derby. Bailey, who has won five Triple Crown races--two Derbies, two Preaknesses and one Belmont--would have been a spectator at the Derby, but finally, for an unconfirmed $30,000 bonus, he agreed to ride Talk Is Money, a 47-1 shot. Talk Is Money came unhinged before the huge crowd, had to be whipped by Bailey before he would leave the tunnel that led to the pre-race post parade, and was pulled up with a quarter-mile left to run.

In Congaree, then, Bailey is getting a second life in this year’s Triple Crown. His preparation for the Preakness is indicative of why he’s so successful with horses new to him.

“I’ll be as prepared as I can be,” he said.

He added that he will watch a videotape of Congaree’s Derby at least 10 times.

“NBC has made it easier for me,” Bailey said. “He was one of the favorites and they isolated on him.”

The New York-based Bailey and Congaree are not complete strangers. When Baffert had the horse stabled at Saratoga last summer, ready to make his first start, Bailey worked the colt twice in the mornings. Congaree got sick and wound up making his debut in September at Del Mar.

“The two times I worked him, I had the feeling that the longer he went, the better he would be,” Bailey said. “He was big, long and lanky then, but of course he’s filled out quite a bit now.”

Bailey will approach the Preakness the way he’s gone into all those other big-race opportunities with new horses.

“You’re better off not to have too many preconceived ideas,” he said. “Let the horse run the way he wants to run. Let him do the work.”

John Ward, the trainer of Monarchos, also trains Hero’s Tribute, Bailey’s last-place mount in the Blue Grass.

“Jerry will make Congaree a formidable opponent,” Ward said. “I think he’ll have him in a more tactical position than Espinoza had him in the Derby.”

Riding the favorite in a five-horse field, Jerry Bailey finished third aboard Tap Dance in Friday’s $200,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Pimlico. Two Item Limit, ridden by Richard Migliore, overtook Tap Dance in the stretch to win the 1 1/8-mile race in 1:50 4/5. Indy Glory was second. . . .

Point Given, a colt well-known for his early morning antics, gave trainer Bob Baffert and his exercise rider, Pepe Aragon, a scare, rearing five times before he was to leave the barn area for a gallop. When he reared the fourth time, Point Given loosened his groom’s lead shank and left Aragon by himself in trying to control him. Point Given, who has gotten loose in the mornings at least twice at Santa Anita, his home track, reared the morning of the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago and almost unseated Aragon. After Aragon got him to the track Friday, the colt galloped about a mile and was led off the track by a stable pony. Baffert is changing his plans and won’t send Point Given to the track for customary light exercise this morning. . . .

Beautiful Pleasure, the filly John Ward says is still the No. 1 horse in his barn, is expected to make her 2001 debut in the Hempstead Handicap at Belmont Park on June 23.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Preakness

The field, in post-position order, for today’s 126th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course. TV: Channel 4 (coverage starts at 2 p.m. PDT; post time: 3 p.m.)

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PP Horse Jockey Trainer Odds 1. Marciano Mark Johnston Tim Ritchey 30-1 2. Mr. John Corey Nakatani Elliott Walden 20-1 3. Griffinite Shaun Bridgmohan Jennifer Leigh-Pedersen 50-1 4. A P Valentine Victor Espinoza Nick Zito 10-1 5. Congaree Jerry Bailey Bob Baffert 5-2 6. Richly Blended Rick Wilson Ben Perkins Jr. 10-1 7. Monarchos Jorge Chavez John Ward Jr. 2-1 8. Percy Hope Jon Court Tony Reinstedler 50-1 9. Bay Eagle Ramon Dominguez Graham Motion 30-1 10. Dollar Bill Pat Day Dallas Stewart 12-1 11. Point Given Gary Stevens Bob Baffert 3-1

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