Spoilers Aren’t Just in Rearview

In Preakness parlance, they are the “new shooters” -- horses who miss the Kentucky Derby but show up two weeks later at Pimlico, hoping to spoil a Triple Crown bid. History has mostly cold-watered these quadrupeds-come-lately, yet at least two of them -- Rock Hard Ten and Eddington -- are given good shots today, when the Preakness is run for the 129th time.

Although the morning-line odds on Smarty Jones, the Derby winner, dropped from 8-5 to 6-5 Friday with the scratch of The Cliff’s Edge, the Blue Grass winner and the fifth-place finisher in the Derby, this might still be one of those rare years when a Derby absentee wins the Preakness. A non-Derby horse, Red Bullet, upset Fusaichi Pegasus, the Derby winner, in the 2000 running, but before him you have to go back to the consecutive winners, Aloma’s Ruler and Deputed Testamony in 1982 and ‘83, to find new shooters that succeeded. In the last 52 Preaknesses, only six new shooters have won.

Asked why non-Derby horses fare badly here, Mark Hennig, the trainer of Eddington, said: “Maybe it’s because many of them need the extra conditioning that running in the Derby gives a horse. But that’s not the case with Eddington. If he puts it all together, he’s capable of beating anybody. He’s a really good horse.”

Hennig and Jason Orman, who trains Rock Hard Ten, wanted to run in the Derby, but they were short on graded-race earnings and were unable to qualify for the field.

“After the way it rained at the Derby [Smarty Jones won over a sloppy track], you have to hang your hat on something,” Hennig said. “There’s a chance that missing the Derby could work out to be a small blessing.”

Rock Hard Ten and Eddington, who are 5-1 and 8-1, respectively, on the morning line, will be joined by Little Matth Man, Sir Shackleton and Water Cannon, other horses who didn’t run in the Derby. Rounding out the 10-horse field are Lion Heart (second in the Derby), Imperialism (third), Borrego (10th) and Song Of The Sword (11th). Post time for the 1 3/16 miles is 3:15 PDT. Pimlico officials, citing the popularity of Smarty Jones, who has become famous in nearby Philadelphia, are expecting a crowd of more than 100,000. The day will be hot and sticky, with temperatures in the mid-80s, and those daring weather handicappers have left open a five-hour window, starting in late afternoon, for scattered thundershowers.

Another Triple Crown off-track is not what Smarty Jones’ rivals have in mind. Opposing trainers have gone out of their way to praise the undefeated colt’s performance at Churchill Downs, all the while admiring the way trainer John Servis has managed his campaign, but with the proviso that the Derby might not have been a true bill because of the track condition.

“Smarty Jones ran a great race, make no mistake about it,” said Frank Lyons, the former trainer who co-owns Castledale, missing here after running 14th in Louisville. “But the rest of us would have preferred better going. That Derby track wasn’t really sloppy, and it wasn’t muddy, either. I would have listed the track condition as pure goo.”

On an off-track at Aqueduct in March, Eddington ran third in the Gotham, then barely missed finishing second in the Wood Memorial there five weeks ago. The son of Unbridled, the 1990 Derby winner who ran second to Summer Squall in the Preakness, has two wins, two seconds and two thirds in six starts. He’ll be ridden by Jerry Bailey, whose second Preakness winner was Red Bullet. Bailey, who has been aboard for both of Eddington’s wins, was left without a Derby mount this year when Wimbledon was scratched. Bailey said he would have preferred to have ridden Eddington at Churchill.

Gary Stevens, the world traveler, will ride Rock Hard Ten. Stevens, who has won the Preakness twice, was to arrive here Friday afternoon from France, where he has been contracted to ride this season. The post-race interviews may be brief if Rock Hard Ten wins; Stevens will be double-parked -- he’s due back at Longchamp to ride the Sunday card.

Of Rock Hard Ten’s three races -- sore shins prevented him from running last year -- Stevens rode in the first two, both entry-level wins at Santa Anita. With Stevens overseas, David Flores rode Orman’s big colt to a second-place finish, just a head behind Castledale, in the Santa Anita Derby. The stewards disqualified Rock Hard Ten, dropping him to third place, for interfering with Imperialism in the stretch.

“Imperialism was not going to finish second, no matter what happened,” said the 35-year-old Orman, who’s here with his first Preakness horse.

The Santa Anita Derby, Rock Hard Ten’s last start, was run six weeks ago.

“We’re two months behind everybody else, but there’s nothing you can do about that,” said Orman, who talks as if he’s sitting on a potential powerhouse. “This horse could end up being one of the best in the country, if he keeps developing.”

Visitors to the Preakness stakes barn are in awe of the sheer size of Rock Hard Ten. If this Preakness goes to the biggest, tallest horse in the field, Orman should start writing his victory speech.

“They say he’s 17 hands [68 inches], and he’s really 17 hands,” said Richard Craigo, a Beverly Hills attorney who represents Steve Taub, the owner of Imperialism. “When many guys say they’ve got a horse 17 hands tall, you can usually make money betting against it. But this colt is every bit of that. He’s like another Forego, one of the biggest I’ve ever seen.”

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Trainer Nick Zito scratched The Cliff’s Edge because of a stone bruise on his right front foot. The horse lost both front shoes while running in the Kentucky Derby. “It’s very disappointing,” Zito said. “But the horse had a great day winning the Blue Grass, and he’ll have some other great days before it’s over with.” Zito is not ruling out the Belmont Stakes, on June 5, for The Cliff’s Edge. Trying to win his second Preakness, Zito has been reduced to Sir Shackleton, who has never run farther than a mile.