SUNDAY, MAY 16, 2010
KLMNO
HORSE RACING
S
AUTOS
Johnson has yet to show top form
is in six-race drought
Associated Press
JONATHAN NEWTON/THE WASHINGTON POST
Jockey Martín García and Lookin At Lucky, left, thunder to victory. First Dude finished three-quarters of a length back, and Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver faded to eighth.
Baffert-trained Lookin At Lucky wins Preakness
preakness from D1
And it was redemption, above all, for Lookin At Lucky, anoint- ed the best 2-year-old in the na- tion last season but denied the opportunity, at least until Satur- day, to flex his prodigious mus- cle, heart and grit in a major race against a field of 3-year olds. But in winning the Preakness,
Lucky denied the racing industry any hope of delivering a Triple Crown champion this season. Kentucky Derby winner Super
Saver, a 2-1 favorite to claim the series’ middle jewel at Pimlico Race Course, ran well out of the gate but sputtered when it mat- tered most and finished eighth, more than 11 lengths in arrears. First Dude was second, fol- lowed by Jackson Bend and Ya- wanna Twist. The afternoon’s other big win- ner was the Preakness itself, which saw attendance surge 23 percent, to 95,760, presumably on the appeal of a controversial ad campaign, “Get Your Preak On.” It was an effort to woo back
disaffected infield revelers who sat out last year’s race in protest of a policy banning them from bringing in their own alcohol. At- tendance dropped to 77,850, the smallest since 1983, as a result. But all was forgiven Saturday, as fun-seekers streamed into the
infield, coaxed by the promise of a bikini contest, beach volleyball tournament and $20 bottomless mugs of beer. It was a glorious race day, with blue skies, temperatures hover- ing in the high 70s and a fast, sun-drenched track. The 12-horse field consisted of
five that had run the Kentucky Derby and seven more-rested challengers.
And with the surprising First Dude setting a torrid pace, the field broke well — with only Dub- lin, starting from the No. 12 post, veering off course in his early strides.
García, who had never com- peted on Pimlico’s 13⁄16
-mile
course before and had only one Triple Crown event under his belt (finishing 15th in the May 1 Kentucky Derby on Baffert’s sec- ond entry), did exactly as the trainer advised. He kept Lucky out of trouble, settling in fifth, while Super Saver threw himself into the task of overtaking First Dude. The two-week turnaround from the Kentucky Derby evokes dread in most trainers, who fret that the rigor is simply too much for 1,200-pound thoroughbreds, as delicate as they are explosive. For Super Saver, it seemed, it was simply too much. Under rail-riding jockey Cal- vin Borel, Super Saver had been
PREAKNESS STAKES CHART
13
⁄16
Horse
Lookin At Lucky First Dude
Jackson Bend Yawanna Twist Dublin
Paddy O’Prado Caracortado Super Saver
Schoolyard Dreams Aikenite
Pleasant Prince Northern Giant
Fractional times: Horse
7 (7) Lookin At Lucky 11 (11) First Dude 6 (6) Jackson Bend
$2 Daily Double 8-7 $117.20
$2 Daily Double B.E.SUSAN-PREAKNESS 4-7 $89.60
$2 Exacta 7-11 $188.60 $1 Superfecta 7-11-6-5 $17,126.00
brilliant in the muddy slop at Churchill Downs two weeks ago. But when Borel asked him for more, the colt had nothing more to give. “He come up empty today,” said Borel, 43. “They were run- ning fast. When I asked him [to go], he kind of pulled it up.” Lookin At Lucky was made of
different stuff. And García knew how and when to coax it from him. As Baffert directed, he looked
after Lucky with a parent’s love, taking care that he wasn’t hit or jostled early — no easy feat amid
ANDREW BEYER
Preakness Stakes winner is ‘Lucky,’ and pretty good, too
beyer from D1
over long shot First Dude, who also ran a commendable race. But he left no doubt that he is a better horse than the Derby winner, Super Saver, who benefited from a perfect trip at Churchill Downs but finished a badly beaten eighth at Pimlico. Lookin At Lucky’s travails in his recent races had prompted trainer Bob Baffert to replace jockey Garrett Gomez— indisputably one of the best riders in America — with Martín García, a 25-year-old whose experience and
accomplishments were not close to Gomez’s. It was a bold decision that prompted much pre-race discussion and will probably be cited as a key factor in Lookin At Lucky’s victory. In fact, the change probably didn’t make a difference. García’s’ ride was not a tactical masterpiece like Calvin Borel’s Derby ride on Super Saver. He simply stayed out of trouble by sitting outside his rivals and let his mount do the rest. Even Baffert conceded that
Gomez had been a victim of circumstances in his recent rides on Lookin At Lucky. He was saving ground behind the leaders in the Santa Anita Derby —in what appeared to be an ideal striking position — when he was stopped cold. In the Derby, he was probably doomed when Lookin At Lucky drew post position No. 1 in the field of 20. “I was sick when he got the one post,” Baffert said. “I wanted to scratch him.” Trapped on the inside, Lookin At Lucky was bumped hard twice in the early running and never got into contention. The trouble appeared to be a
Borel was content to sit just outside the leader. “We had a perfect trip,” he said. As the field raced down the backstretch, García angled to the outside for clear running room. The last thing he wanted to do, presumably, was to get pinned down on the rail and suffer the kind of fate that had befallen Gomez. As Caracortado moved up three-wide to challenge the leaders, García had to make his move four-wide — usually not the optimal trip on the turn at Pimlico. But the horse was in gear, with clear sailing. When Baffert saw the move, he exclaimed, “Oh, boy, he’s running today!” The Kentucky Derby winner was the first of the leaders to surrender. “He just came up empty today,” Borel said. But First Dude, who had won nothing more than a maiden event in his six-race career, was not giving up. In mid-stretch, Lookin At Lucky appeared ready to surge past and take command, but First Dude kept fighting until he succumbed in the final yards. The fact that First Dude
JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST
Bob Baffert celebrates with jockey Martín García, who replaced Garrett Gomez aboard Lookin at Lucky.
legitimate excuse, but everybody connected with the colt knows that alibis are a cheap commodity in racing. “Somewhere along the line,” said Paul Weitman, one of the colt’s three owners, “you can’t keep using excuses. You have to win.” Baffert gave only one pre-race
instruction to García, telling him to try to save ground on the first turn after he broke from post No.
8. After that point, García was on his own. “If you have the horse,” Baffert told him, “you’ll get there.” As García angled toward the inside — he never got to the rail —Lookin At Lucky was getting a break as the early stages of the race unfolded. The Preakness field appeared to have few horses with any early speed, except for Super Saver, and the possibility
existed that Borel could take the early lead and seize a significant tactical advantage. Super Saver broke sharply, but as Borel considered his options, Ramon Dominguez seized the initiative by sending the 23-to-1 shot First Dude to the lead. He ran the first quarter-mile in a fast 22.91 seconds, a quick pace that would benefit the chances of a late runner like Lookin At Lucky.
finished so close to the winner, and that Jackson Bend (0 for 4 as a 3-year-old) was a close third , might be an indictment of the quality of the Preakness field and the entire 3-year-old generation. But Lookin At Lucky still commands respect because of his overall accomplishments. This was his seventh victory in 10 career starts, with six of the wins in Grade I or Grade II stakes company. If he had had a little more luck
—or at least an absence of bad luck — there is no way to know how good his record might be.
sports@washpost.com
Wgt PP ST
126
126 11 126 126
7 6
5
9 8 2
4 6-21 6 1-11⁄2
1⁄4
⁄2
1⁄2
1 3-1 3-11
⁄2 ⁄2
Miles Dirt. Purse $1 million, 3-Year-Olds Preakness Stakes 135th Running
3⁄4
5-hd 5-1 1-1 1-11
7 5-hd 6-1 6-1 2-1
⁄2 ⁄2
Str Fin
⁄2
1-¾
126 12 12 12 12 12 7-hd 5-4¾ 126 10 126 126 126 126 126 126
8 7-1 8-1 8-1 9-11 5 4-hd 4-11 3 2-1⁄2
4-hd 5-41 2-1
⁄2
3 11 10-2 10-1 10-1⁄2 4
1 10 11-5 11-51 9 9-21
⁄2
22.910 46.470
Win Place Show
6.80 4.60 3.80 16.60 9.20 6.60
1:11.220
3-hd 4-4
⁄2
⁄2
2 8-2 7-1 7-1 6-hd 9-21
⁄2
11-3 10-1 10-31 11-4 11-31
8-2 8-¾
⁄2 ⁄2 ⁄2
Jockey Odds
Garcia 2.40
1-1 2-2 2-hd Dominguez 23.80 3-1 4-hd 3-1
⁄2
Smith 11.60 Prado 16.60 Gomez 9.80
6-no Desormeaux 7.50 7-1 Atkinson 18.80 Borel 1.90 Coa 15.40
Castellano 30.00 Leparoux 23.50
9-2 9-1 12 12 Thompson 31.20 1:36.260
Final time:
1:55.470
$2 Super High Five 7-11-6-5-12 $61,014.40 $2 Trifecta 7-11-6 $2,771.00 $2 Pick 3 8-8-7 (3 correct) $1,643.60 $2 Pick 4 4 $1 Pick 6 2
⁄6 ⁄6
$1 Pick 6 2 /8
⁄6
-8-8-7 (4 correct) $3,594.80
/8
⁄9 ⁄9
/124 /124
⁄7 ⁄7
/84 /84
⁄6 ⁄6
battle of outstretched horses’ necks and forelegs, frenzied jock- eys astride. “When I ask him to go, he
-8-8-7 (5 correct) $110.00 -8-8-7 (6 correct) $14,466.00
Winner: B C, 3, by Smart Strike-Private Feeling Trainer: Bob Baffert Scratched: None.
(c) 2010 Equibase Company LLC, all rights re- served.
48 thundering hooves.
García held him steady through the sweeping clubhouse turn. And though Baffert had told him to make whatever moves he saw fit once he reached the backstretch, García held his ground. He had a clear path to the front, running just outside the pack at the front. But he didn’t ask Lucky for his best yet. They were four-wide turning for home, with Lucky claiming the outside lane. Then it was three. Then two — just First Dude and Lucky — in a
kicked,” García said, beaming with pride. “My horse kept fight- ing. And when he kicked again, the last 16th [of a mile], I think, ‘This race is gonna be mine!’ ” It was one of the few answers García gave in his postrace inter- views that spoke to the race it- self. To everything else, he an- swered the same. “Thank you.” “Thank you for giving me the chance to ride this beautiful horse.” Baffert indicated before Satur-
day’s race that he didn’t intend to enter Lookin At Lucky in the June 5 Belmont Stakes. In the victorious aftermath, he said he hadn’t decided what to do. Either way, Baffert was re- warded for taking a chance on jockey and horse. And the gam- ble delivered his fifth Preakness Stakes and his first since 2002, to move into a tie with fellow Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas. “This was a different kind of win — more of a redemption win,” Baffert said. Lookin At Lucky “wanted to win. He tried so hard. I wanted to win it for the horse. In the Derby, he has that rough trip. But every time he had those rough trips, he came back.”
clarkel@washpost.com
dover, del. — Jimmie
Johnson is in a slump. A big one by his standards. He has finished two of the past three races in the garage instead of on the track. John- son hasn’t won in six races and no longer holds the Sprint Cup points lead. Throw in a busted rear axle in the season-opening Dayto- na 500 and he already has two more DNF’s than he did all of last year. Johnson is suddenly hear- ing questions he’s not accus- tomed to answering. Has Johnson’s luck finally run out? Have other drivers — notably the ones at Joe Gibbs Racing — finally caught up with the four-time defending champion?
Ahh, not so fast. For all the issues that have
hit Johnson’s No. 48 team this season, he still has three wins, is second in points and is a lock to qualify for the chase for the championship. And no driver dominates those final 10 championship races quite like Johnson and his Hen- drick Motorsports crew. Count out that fifth title at your own risk. Still, watching Johnson’s
Chevrolet limp toward the ga- rage after getting caught up in wrecks has to have the rest of the field hoping some of that misfortune lingers well into October and November. “We’ve been saying this all along with the 48 car being at the top of its game, this stuff doesn’t last forever,” Johnson said. Johnson refuses to blame
NASCAR’s early-season shift to the spoiler as the reason. Instead, it has been bad luck and accidents that have some thinking he might finally be vulnerable. He’s not fearful this little
stretch is a sign of bad things ahead. “We’re not where we want
to be,” he said, “but we’re still awfully competitive. We’re not as worried or concerned as some of the headlines may read and some speculation that might be out there.” Johnson has finished 31st
and 36th in two of his last three races. His miserable race last week at Darlington Raceway ended in a crash. Johnson acknowledges
NASCAR’s change from the wing to a spoiler has been an adjustment, but crew chief Chad Knaus and the HMS team were prepared. As Johnson has cooled, his closest competitors have ripped off hot streaks. Over Johnson’s winless streak, Denny Hamlin has won three times. Kevin Har- vick, who grabbed the points lead, has a win and four straight top-sevens. Kyle Busch has been steady and Johnson’s HMS teammate Jeff Gordon has no wins to show for some otherwise fantastic up-front runs.
All are nipping at the shot to end Johnson’s reign. “If we can beat them in the
first 10, we can beat them in the last 10,” Harvick said. “It’s not about winning every week. You have to run 10 races at the end of the year to pull it all together.”
NATIONWIDE SERIES: Kyle
Busch won Dover’s Helluva Good 200 one day after he ran out of fuel at the end of the trucks series race.
Busch won from the pole in
a race that needed a green- white-checkered finish Satur- day. The final laps were marred by wrecks, including one in which Clint Bowyer inten- tionally hit Denny Hamlin in retaliation for an earlier acci- dent.
Bowyer was immediately
parked and ordered straight to the NASCAR hauler.
Autism Speaks 400
What: NASCAR Sprint Cup.
When: Noon.
Where: Dover (Del.) International Speedway. TV: WTTG (Channel 5), WBFF (Channel 45).
Four-time defending Cup champion
D9
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