Why not run his 3-year-old colt Incredibolt in the Preakness Stakes (G1)?
He could not come up with a reason not to.
"Really, it randomly popped into my head when I was eating lunch," trainer Riley Mott said by phone from Louisville.
The Preakness revelation came to him after Silent Tactic, who may very well have been the morning line favorite for Saturday's Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown at Laurel Park, was ruled out of the race Monday when Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse was not satisfied that the colt's bruised left front foot was quite right.
"We were not going to go to the Preakness," Mott said. "The plan was to point to another race. In this game, you need to give yourself the mobility to be flexible and kind of change things on the fly. We looked at the potential field for the Preakness and, as long as our horse was doing well, why not strike?"
After a conference call with members of the Pin Oak Stud team, owners of the son of Bolt d'Oro, the 34-year-old Mott, son of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, made the last-minute call to the Maryland Jockey Club to enter the Preakness.
Incredibolt is coming into the Preakness coming off a sixth-place finish in the May 2 Kentucky Derby (G1). He was beaten by 4 lengths after being blocked in the stretch.
"I thought he ran a sneaky-good race," Mott said. "He was pretty close to the quick pace—closer than [top three finishers] Golden Tempo, Renegade and Ocelli. He tipped out turning for home and ran for a sixteenth down the lane with Renegade, who leaned on him sightly in the stretch. Then he got a little tired in the last sixteenth. A good effort on his part."
Mott monitored his horse following the Derby and determined that Incredibolt exited the race in great shape. He saw no reason not to move forward.
Incredibolt is the third horse from the Derby that is running back in two weeks in the Preakness, joining third-place finisher Ocelli and also-ran Robusta. Many trainers don't run back in the Preakness because of the two weeks between races.
"There are times when we have tried it before," Mott said of returning on short rest. "Sometimes it doesn't work out and sometimes it does. It's hard to tell until you really run them. We might look like geniuses, or we might look foolish running them back. All we can do is analyze the horse, and he has given us all the positive indications that he is doing well."
Incredibolt galloped at Churchill Downs on Tuesday morning and was scheduled to get on a van in the afternoon and make the 10-hour trip to Laurel Park. Mott said he would arrive in Maryland either Wednesday or Thursday.
Jaime Torres, who rode Seize the Grey to victory in the 2024 Preakness, has the return mount aboard Incredibolt.
Iron Honor
Trainer Chad Brown has been down this road before.
And the five-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer has done quite nicely for himself, thank you, in the Preakness Stakes (G1).
From his six starters in the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown, Brown has two wins, a second and a pair of fourth-place finishes. He will look to bulk up his Preakness resume even more Saturday when he saddles 9-2 morning-line favorite Iron Honor for the 151st edition of the 1 3/16-mile Classic at Laurel Park.
Brown's two Preakness wins came with Cloud Computing in 2017 and Early Voting in 2022. The way Iron Honor got to Maryland is eerily similar to how Brown's other Preakness champs did it.
Like the two others, the Preakness will be Iron Honor's fourth career start. Iron Honor's blueprint is the same as Cloud Computing's. The first three starts for both—and Early Voting—came at Aqueduct.
Cloud Computing broke his maiden first time out as did Iron Honor. They both then went to the Gotham Stakes (G1) at Aqueduct. Iron Honor won it; Cloud Computing was second. The Wood Memorial (G2) followed with Cloud Computing finishing third; and Iron Honor checking in seventh.
Early Voting also broke his maiden at first asking then won the Withers Stakes (G3) and was second in the Wood.
"Very similar, those horses coming through the New York route," Brown said by phone from his spring/summer base in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. "[Iron Honor] reminds me a little more of Cloud Computing than Early Voting."
Iron Honor, though, had the tougher luck in the Wood, as he was bumped hard in the first turn and never recovered. He faded to a disappointing seventh as the 5-2 favorite.
Brown is very anxious to see how Iron Honor rebounds in the Preakness, something he fully expects to see.
"This is kind of a natural fit for him, this race," Brown said. "You would not be thinking (Kentucky) Derby off a poor (Wood) finish even though he had some excuses in the first turn. He didn't settle down, and he was pulling. It just didn't work out for him. Giving him the extra time and pointing to the Preakness was sort of a natural thing to do."
Iron Honor, who wore blinkers in his first three starts, will be without them in the Preakness. Brown is hoping that by removing the blinkers, it will help Iron Honor, owned by Vincent and Teresa Viola's St. Elias Stable and William H. Lawrence, relax.
Iron Honor was scheduled to ship to Laurel Tuesday from Belmont Park. Assistant trainer Jose Hernandez will accompany the son of Nyquist and oversee final preparations at Laurel. Brown said he is not sure when he will travel to Maryland. It could be Friday night, or it might not be until race day.
Flavien Prat will ride Iron Honor for the first time.
Chip Honcho
The apparent abundance of speed in Saturday's 151st Preakness Stakes (G1) might work against Chip Honcho, the co-third choice at 5-1 in the field of 14. Up close certainly wasn't the place to be in the Kentucky Derby (G1), where the last three horses early on wound up filling out the top three in victorious Golden Tempo, Renegade and Ocelli, the 70-1 maiden who runs back in the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.
But two-time Preakness-winning trainer Steve Asmussen says he's not going to take away a proven asset for Chip Honcho's first start in eight weeks.
"I know there is a lot of speed on paper, and it may be a negative for him to have speed," he said. "We can't be somebody we're not. We know who we are, and that's who we plan on being in this race."
In his best and fastest race, Chip Honcho led until the final strides of the Risen Star (G2) at Fair Grounds before grudgingly finishing second by a half-length behind the well-regarded but subsequently sidelined Paladin. In the Louisiana Derby (G2), Chip Honcho was in third early and faded to fifth, beaten by 11 lengths. That was his last race, with Asmussen opting to skip the Derby and await the 1 3/16-mile Preakness.
"I'm very happy with what Chip Honcho has done going into this, considering how long it's been since he ran," Asmussen said. "Derby Day, he got in a really strong work, and here we are."
Chip Honcho will be reunited with Jose Ortiz for the 1 3/16-mile Preakness. The Kentucky Derby-winning jockey rode Chip Honcho once before, in a front-running maiden victory at Churchill Downs.
Asked what Ortiz brings to Chip Honcho, Asmussen said, "He wins for me, that's what he does."
In addition to winning lots of races at Churchill Downs, Fair Grounds and Saratoga for North America's all-time win leader, Ortiz won the $12 million Dubai World Cup (G1) on the Asmussen-trained Magnitude March 28. The jockey ran away with his second Fair Grounds riding title in his second year making the New Orleans track his winter base. Ortiz currently is the leading rider at Churchill Downs, 21-19 over his brother, Irad.
"He's definitely been making a lot of the right moves lately," Asmussen said. "I think everybody can see that."
Chip Honcho drew Post 6 for the Preakness.
After vanning from Louisville to Laurel on Monday, Chip Honcho jogged around Laurel's 1 1/8-mile main track once under exercise rider Brooke Stillman, with assistant trainer Darren Fleming accompanying them on the pony.
A son of the Lane's End stallion Connect, Chip Honcho was a $210,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July 2024 yearling purchase. He races for Leland Ackerley Racing, James Sherwood, Jode Shupe and John Cilia.
Connect is a son of super-sire Curlin, who gave Asmussen his first Preakness and Triple Crown race win in 2007. Two years later, Asmussen won the Preakness with the filly Rachel Alexandra.
Ocelli
Ashley Durr, Anthony Tate and Front Page Equestrian LLC's Ocelli visited the Laurel Park track for the first time Tuesday morning, jogging once around in preparation for a start in Saturday's 151st Preakness Stakes (G1).
The Whit Beckman-trained son of Connect, who finished third in the May 2 Kentucky Derby (G1) after taking the lead in the stretch at 70-1, will seek to become the first maiden since 1888 to win the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.
Ocelli, who drew Post 2, is priced at 6-1 on the morning line for the Preakness Stakes.
Napoleon Solo
Will the third time trying two turns be the charm for Napoleon Solo in Saturday's 151st Preakness Stakes (G1) at Laurel Park?
Gold Square LLC's gray colt sparkled as a 2-year-old in 2025, breaking his maiden and winning the Champagne (G1), both one-turn races, by a combined 11 3/4 lengths. Switching to routes involving two turns as a 3-year-old has not gone as smoothly as trainer Chad Summers and his connections had hoped. In his return to the races in the Feb. 28 Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream Park, he was prominent early but weakened and ended up being beaten 11 3/4 lengths. Five weeks later in the Wood Memorial (G2) at Aqueduct, he drew the rail in a field of 12, was involved in a pace struggle and led the way into the stretch before ending up fifth, 2 3/4 lengths behind victorious Albus. Summers has entered him in the 1 3/16-mile Preakness for yet another two-turn test. The son of Liam's Map drew Post 10 in the full field of 14 and is 8-1 on the morning line.
Summers said Napoleon Solo may have been a bit rusty in the Fountain of Youth and had to deal with some issues prior to the Wood, which caused him to miss some training. The colt has been training very well for his third multi-turn try in the Preakness, which is being run at Laurel while construction continues on a new Pimlico Race Course facility.
"I think that he deserves one more opportunity," Summers said. "I thought the Wood was a deceptively good race not being at his absolute peak. If we're going to do it, this seemed like the right place and time and opportunity and field.
"We'll find out. If we're wrong, there's plenty of shorter races the rest of the year, but they only run these Triple Crown races once. You only get one chance as a 3-year-old. The way he ran as a 2-year-old, obviously, we wanted to make the Kentucky Derby. We felt like he was a Triple Crown contender the way he won the Champagne, a future stallion prospect."
Napoleon Solo worked a half mile in 48 seconds Saturday over the training track at Belmont Park. He shipped to Laurel Sunday and galloped Monday and again Tuesday morning at the end of the training session. He is scheduled to visit the paddock on Wednesday.
Talkin
With his prep work at Keeneland complete, Talkin spent much of Tuesday in transit to Laurel Park for his start in Saturday's 151st Preakness Stakes (G1) at Laurel Park.
Trainer Danny Gargan said the van carrying the Good Magic colt left on schedule at 4 a.m. with a 1 p.m. estimated time of arrival. Gargan, who drove from Kentucky to Maryland Tuesday, said the colt will go to the track at Laurel for the first time shortly after it opens Wednesday morning.
Talkin, co-owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Pine Racing Stables, Legendary Thoroughbreds, Belmar Racing and Breeding, LLC and R. A. Hill Stable, will be making his first start since finishing third in the Blue Grass (G1) April 4. Gargan said the colt is training great—he posted a bullet half-mile work in 47.80 seconds Saturday—and is ready for the Preakness.
Getting Talkin to the Triple Crown has been a challenge for Gargan, who had to shift into catch-up mode after Talkin became sick following an off-the-board finish in the Remsen (G2) Dec. 6. He returned in the Tampa Derby (G3) March 7, finishing fifth by 5 lengths.
"When I ran him the first time, I knew he wasn't ready, but we had to get him running," Gargan said. "He ran a credible race, even though he probably wasn't but about 75 percent fit. But I had no choice, because if we're going to get somewhere, we had to get going. I missed a lot of training because he got sick after the Remsen. lost a lot of weight, and it took forever to get it back."
Gargan estimated that Talkin was about 85 percent racing fit in the Blue Grass and said drawing the inside post has a negative. For the Preakness, he will start from Post 5 with jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr.
"I think we have him good," Gargan said. "I think he's as good as he can be. If he's good enough, he'll be right there. He's training and doing everything way better than he's done it all year, eating, training."
Pretty Boy Miah
Back-to-back wins after blinkers were added made Pretty Boy Miah a Preakness Stakes (G1) prospect and the Beau Liam gelding left for the trip from Saratoga Springs, N.Y. to Laurel Park Tuesday morning.
Trainer Jeremiah Englehart is scheduled to make the drive from upstate New York later in the day and will be at Laurel Park for training Wednesday morning. The Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown will be run at Laurel for the first time Saturday.
Pretty Boy Miah, co-owned by Team Penney Racing, Echo Racing, Flower City Racing LLC, Anthony Bruno and Christoper Meyer, was purchased privately as a 2-year-old and has made all four of his starts in 2026. Englehart made the blinkers equipment change for a March 29 maiden special weight race and the gelding romped by 6 1/2 lengths. He added a second victory by 3 3/4 lengths going one mile April 25.
For his step up into graded-stakes, Pretty Boy Miah drew outermost Post 14 in the first full Preakness field since 2011. Jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. will be in the saddle for Pretty Boy Miah's first attempt at two turns, a test that Englehart said he is ready to pass.
"You never know until you really try it, but he's just a horse that's always seemed like he's gotten better with distance," Englehart said. "Even in his gallop-outs, early on in his races he just seems like he can handle the distance. It doesn't bother him. I actually thought the most visually impressive thing about his last race was the last 70 yards before the wire and kind of how he just found another gear to continue on."
Great White
Trainer John Ennis' immediate reaction was unenthusiastic to Great White drawing post 13 of 14 for Saturday's 151st Preakness Stakes (G1) at Laurel Park. But upon further reflection, the Lexington, Ky.-based trainer has warmed to the idea that it works in his massive, long-striding gelding's favor.
"The more I thought about it, the more pleased I am," Ennis, who co-owns Great White with Three Chimneys Farm, said by phone Tuesday morning. "It's fine. We're not going to be going forward to the lead anyway. We can just slot in behind, get a clean trip hopefully."
Far worse would have been an inside post where the huge gray's long stride could be compromised by traffic, Ennis said.
"I don't mind if we're hung a bit wide anyway," he said. "We're going to be behind and let them all chop each other up in front. I don't want to get stuck inside and checking his stride. If we can just get on the outside, in mid-pack somewhere, and let him use his stride, we'll be fine."
Alex Achard, aboard for all four of his prior starts, has the mount on the son of the Three Chimneys stallion Volatile.
"He is not a slow horse at all," Ennis said. "He's got plenty of speed."
The problem is if he finds himself in front too early, as he did in the April 4 Blue Grass (G1) at Keeneland, the trainer said.
"There's plenty of speed to our inside—Robusta and Taj Mahal, and I'm sure there's somebody else in the mix that will go forward with them also," Ennis said. "We wanted to go forward in the Blue Grass [from Post 2]. There was plenty of speed, and we expected them to go by us and we'd sit behind them.
"But then when they didn't come by us and left us in front, it was a complete waste of time," he added. "He does not do anything in front. He needs targets. He needs something to be aiming at, so we're going to give him that in the Preakness. Ride him to finish. Ride him to be running at them down the stretch."
If his brief form holds up, Great White could be sitting on a win. To date he's gone win [Turfway maiden sprint], fifth [one-mile Leonatus], win [1 1/16-mile Battaglia Memorial] and fifth [1 1/8-mile Blue Grass]. He drew in off the also-eligible list for the Kentucky Derby, only to be scratched when he reared up and flipped before he could be led into the starting gate.
Great White galloped a mile and stood in the starting gate Tuesday morning under exercise rider Omar Torres at Keeneland-owned The Thoroughbred Center. The gelding was to leave Lexington for Maryland at 5 p.m. Tuesday, with Ennis scheduled to arrive late afternoon Wednesday.
Great White is rated at 15-1 on the Preakness morning line.
The Hell We Did
Other than Taj Mahal, who is based at Laurel Park with trainer Brittany Russell, only one Preakness Stakes (G1) entrant has spent a significant amount of time at the Maryland racetrack.
That is The Hell We Did, who arrived on the Laurel backstretch April 28, 17 days after he finished second in the Lexington (G3) at Keeneland. The son of Authentic, bred and owned by Peacock Family Racing Stable LLC, has had two works over the Laurel track.
Whether or not The Hell We Did's familiarity of the surroundings has any say in Saturday's Preakness remains to be seen. But, so far, it appears as though the horse is enjoying his stay.
"Some horses ship really well, and it doesn't bother them," trainer Todd Fincher said by phone. "But it's always nice to be there and get comfortable. We have had no issues with him."
Fincher's assistant Oscar Rojero, who has been with the colt the entire time he has been at Laurel, took The Hell We Did out to the main track just after 7:30 a.m. Tuesday for a morning gallop.
The Hell We Did has raced twice this year. He won a six-furlong allowance by 13 lengths at Sunland Park to start his season. Fincher said the horse did not get much out of that race.
From there, he headed to Kentucky where he was second by 2 1/2 lengths to Trendsetter in the Lexington.
"He was not ready for that race," Fincher said. "We had been coming off a [three-month] layoff before [the Sunland race]. Then he was going another 2 ½ furlongs. It was a big jump. He pressed the pace and got a little tired, but he got a lot out of it. We are where we want to be right now."
In his career, The Hell We Did has raced four times and has two wins and two seconds. When he runs in the Preakness, Laurel will be the fifth different track where he has run. At the post-position draw, The Hell We Did drew Post 7 and is priced at 15-1 on the morning-line.
Jockey Luis Saez, who rode The Hell We Did in the Lexington, keeps the mount for the Preakness.
"Our program is a progression," said Fincher, who said he will arrive in town Wednesday night. "We don't know how much better he will get, but he is definitely on the improve."
Bull by The Horns
Peachtree Stable and Mark Corrado's Bull by the Horns got acquainted with the Laurel Park oval Tuesday on the morning after arriving from Gulfstream Park to prepare for a start in Saturday's 151st Preakness Stakes (G1).
Bull by the Horns is trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., who will also be represented during the Preakness Festival by My Miss Mo in the George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan (G2), Navajo Warrior in the Pimlico Special (G3), and Tesselate and Late Night Text in the Miss Preakness (G3) Friday, as well as Harrow in the Dinner Party (G3) Saturday.
"They went once around. Bull by the Horns especially appreciates the cooler weather," assistant trainer Anastasia Zemtsov said. "He's a happy camper."
Bull by the Horns is coming off a last-to-first victory in the 1 1/16-mile Rushaway over Turfway Park's all-weather surface. The son of Essential Quality, who is 30-1 on the morning line, will break from Post 8 for his Preakness run with Micah Husbands aboard.
Crupper
Starting from the Post 3 in the Preakness Stakes (G1) would seem to fit Crupper's relatively new up-close running style. The only wrinkle is that there are a lot of other horses who have speed in the capacity field of 14 3-year-olds for Saturday's Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown at Laurel Park.
"Some of them I know are pretty fast in their shorter races," said Donnie Von Hemel, who trains Crupper for owner-breeder Robert Zoellner, a Tulsa, Okla., optometrist and entrepreneur. "So there's a lot of possible speed in it. Could it turn out like the [Kentucky] Derby [G1 with its torrid early pace]? Probably could."
If it does, how would that impact Crupper? Ridden for the first time by Junior Alvarado, Crupper was head-and-head for the early lead before staying in front for good in the Bathhouse Row at Oaklawn Park, a victory that earned the colt a fees-paid spot in the Preakness. Even in his two prior races [a maiden win and third in an allowance race] after Von Hemel added blinkers, Crupper was only a length or two off the pacesetter.
So if he's outfooted out of the gate, will Crupper be content to settle perhaps as far back as mid-pack, if circumstances so dictate?
"I think you have to have that in your tool belt, if you're going to give him the best chance," Von Hemel said. "Now, maybe we're all wrong, and you can be on the lead in 49 [seconds for the first half mile], which I'd be happy to be there. But I think you better have a little more versatility if you're going to give your horse the best chance to win and your jock the best chance to assess the race and make some good decisions along the way."
Does he think—or does he merely hope—Crupper has that versatility?
"Yeah, I think he does," Von Hemel said. "But you've got to show it. You've got to be able to do it in a race and do it successfully. I think that's probably a little bit of an unknown. With 14 and the run into the first turn, somebody has to do something, or you're seven wide."
Crupper is 30-1 on the morning line in a race in which Gotham (G3) winner Iron Honor is the 9-2 program favorite with three others [Chip Honcho, Incredibolt and Taj Mahal] at 5-1. Von Hemel takes no offense.
"There may be a few you can throw out, but I think there are way more you can put a ticket on," he said. "It's a big field that's competitive. If you can tell me what the pace is going to be, I can tell you who has a better chance to win. But that's about it."
Crupper had a routine gallop Tuesday morning at Churchill Downs' Trackside training center under exercise rider David Contreras. He was scheduled to leave for Laurel later in the day.
Corona de Oro
On Our Own Stable LLC and partners' Corona de Oro boarded a Laurel Park-bound van at Churchill Downs at 4 a.m. Tuesday.
The Dallas Stewart-trained son of Bolt d'Oro, who is coming off a third-place finish in his graded-stakes debut in the April 11 Lexington (G3) at Keeneland, will be ridden by Hall of Famer John Velazquez from Post 11 in Saturday's Preakness Stakes (G1).
Robusta
While trainer Doug O'Neill tends to his stable in California, his Preakness Stakes (G1) entrant Robusta continues his preparations for Saturday's Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.
The Calumet Farm homebred had his final pre-Preakness gallop at Keeneland on Tuesday and was then loaded onto a van for the trip to Maryland. O'Neill said Robusta was scheduled to arrive at Laurel Park around 10 p.m. Tuesday with his assistant Sabas Rivera.
Depending on how the ship went, O'Neill said Robusta could go to the track on Wednesday.
Robusta drew Post 4 and was assigned odds of 30-1.
"Going from the outside 18 post [in the Kentucky Derby]S to the 4-hole here, I like that," O'Neill said Tuesday by phone from California. "For all of us, it's just a good clean break and, for our guy, just being forwardly placed and getting into a high cruising speed without having to tap on the brakes."
Robusta finished 14th in the Kentucky Derby (G1) after being sent off at odds of 70.01-1, the second longest price in the field. O'Neill is not concerned with Robusta's Preakness odds.
In his six career starts, Robusta has gone off at odds of 24-1 or higher in five of them. He has one win—a maiden score as a 2-year-old.
"It is long odds just making it to a race like this," O'Neill said. "We have passed that."
Rafael Bejarano will ride Robusta in the Preakness.
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