Perfect Drift Will Skip Preakness

Perfect Drift, the third-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, won’t run in the Preakness at Pimlico a week from today, trainer Murray Johnson said Friday.

Johnson said the immediate goal for Perfect Drift was the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown, on June 8. Perfect Drift has hit the board in all seven of his starts--three wins, three seconds and the Derby third. His biggest win was in the Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.

With Perfect Drift out and Request For Parole headed for a campaign on grass, there will be only four Derby holdovers in the Preakness: the winner War Emblem, runner-up Proud Citizen, Medaglia d’Oro and Harlan’s Holiday. Perfect Drift’s defection leaves 14 horses on the Preakness list, two of them--Crimson Hero and Straight Gin--trained by Nick Zito.

Trainer Wayne Lukas said he would have only one starter, Proud Citizen, in the Preakness, a race he has won five times.