Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver has been installed as the 5-2 favourite for Saturday’s running of the Preakness Stakes at a mile and three-sixteenths. What’s very intriguing about the second jewel of the Triple Crown is that only 5 of the 20 three year-0lds that ran on the first Saturday in May will be gunning at Pimlico. So what happened to the other 15.

In all likelihood, many of them are sore. It’s tough sledding to run a mile and a quarter in the mud, with 126 pounds of jockey and lead aboard and many of the horses in the Derby are probably still suffering bruises from the roller derby type trip they endured. Ice Box, who was a very impressive late running second in the Derby isn’t coming to Pimlico. He had a brutal trip, his momentum completely stopped on two occasions and his people are probably being wise not to bring him back just two weeks later. Paddy O’Prado is hoping to parlay his third place finish at Churchill Downs and the other three horses re-upping are Dublin ( 7th in the Derby),  Jackson Bend ( 12th) and Looking at Lucky (6th). Looking At Lucky drew post 7 for Saturday’s race, which means he’s assured of a much cleaner trip than he got in the Derby. Looking At Lucky was the 6-1 favourite two weeks ago, but coming out of post one was deadly. He was squeezed at the start and severely bodychecked into the rail about an eighth of a mile in. Still, Looking At Lucky was running strongly at the end and rallied from 18th to pass a dozen rivals. Calvin Borel has been boasting that Super Saver will win the Triple Crown, but I would put money on Looking At Lucky if that one has longer odds.

Seven fresh horses will enter the fray in the Preakness..Todd Pletcher, training of Super Saver has entered Aikenite. Dale Romans, trainer of Paddy O’Prado has also submitted First Dude, whom I would bet, if I were President Obama. Also in the Preakness, Schoolyard Dreams, Pleasant Prince, Northern Giant, Yawanna Twist and Caracortado. It tells you just how much the chase for the Triple Crown can take out of a three year-old horse when you see that only 12 have been entered for the second leg.

And looking at last night’s results from Woodbine, it was nice to see 2008 Queen’s Plate winner Not Bourbon and Jono Jones teaming up for another win.  Not Bourbon ran off from the field in the 7th last night winning a $75,900 allowance race at six furlongs in the fine time of 1:08.3 Sprinting was always Not Bourbon’s game; before the 2008 Plate, trainer Roger Attfield wondered aloud if Not Bourbon could last the ten furlongs. He did under a terrific ride by Jones, lost the Prince of Wales Stakes, then captured the $125,000 Overskate Stakes at 7 furlongs by a widening four lengths. After that, Not Bourbon clearly needed a lot of time to recover from some infirmities and last night’s race was the first appearance by him in in about 20 months.Even with the layoff, Not Bourbon showed a lot of class using the entire length of the stretch to overtake the front-runner Paso Doble who did not yield easily.

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It was a sensational day for female jockeys on May 11 at Fort Erie as the ladies won six of eight races.

Betty Williams guided 3-4 favourite Spectacle safely home by almost a length in the first race, which went five furlongs on the dirt. Spectacle is owned by Woodford Racing and trained by Nick Gonzalez.

When Krista Carignan scored in the second race with 7-1 shot Igotogojoe, the all-ladies double returned $40.10. Igottogojoe won by a neck for trainer John Simms and owner Stephen Organ.

They let a guy, Real Simard take the third race, but veteran Regina Sealock got Running On Clouds up by a neck in the fourth at 5-1 for trainer John Quaranta who sent the four year-old gelding out for Tony’s Investments LLC.

Melanie Pinto got into the act by dancing home first in the fifth on Choreography, a ten year-old gelding who paid $8.50 to win for owner-trainer Edwin Knight.

Omar Moreno injected a little testosterone into the afternoon when he won at 2-5 on Bob N Weave in the sixth race, but the seventh was an all female picture with Sometime Anytime,a five year-old mare taking the five and half furlong sprint for jockey Francine Villeneuve, who moved one win closer to the 1,000 mark  (she’s up to 935) by scoring for trainer Louis Capi and owner Joe Pirone. With Carignan second on Hereisthering and Pinto third on Maria’s Girl, it was an all-estrogen triactor, which paid $443.90.

And Sealock completed the fantastic feat of flying females by winning the eighth race on 5-1 shot, Pauls Pick, who was more than three lengths the best at the end of the mile and 70 yards. Pauls Pick, a three year-old filly is trained by Roger Ellersick for owner Gary G. Jackson and she completed a day in which three-quarters of the races were won by female jockeys, who on the eight-race card, rode just 15 of the 53 horses.

I love going over the charts from important races. The Kentucky Derby had a 20-horse field and the win by Super Saver and jockey Calvin Borel made for a great story.  But 20 horses, running in the mud in front of more than 150,000 often presents some challenges for the three year-olds and May 1st was certainly no exception.

Once again, the Run for the Roses was equal parts thoroughbred racing, NASCAR demolitionand Roller Derby…As I gaze down the chart, I see no less than 14 horses who had compromised trips.

Looking At Lucky, the race favourite at 6.30-1 ( when have you ever seen that?) got stiffed with the rail and was severely munched twice in the first run through the stretch. ‘ Roughed twice early’ is his chart line. In spite of that, Looking At Lucky, who was 18th at the three-quarters, raced bravely, passing a dozen horses in the last half of the race.

The runner-up, Ice Box did not have a clean trip -’steadied, blocked, steadied’ says the chart. But there he was, storming fiercely down the stretch to grab second over Paddy O’Prado.

Make Music For Me came fourth, even though he was ‘pinched back’ and had to go 8 wide in the stretch.

Nobel’s Promise ran a huge race, even if he did fade to fifth after taking the lead at the top of the stretch. This one was pushed inward after the break by Super Saver and that created the pinball effect that harmed Looking At Lucky the most.

The sixth place horse, Dublin was steadied in the opening strides. Stately Victor was ‘forced in, bumped.’ American Lion was ‘ steadied early’. Jackson Bend out of post 13 had to be steadied and was forced to ‘alter course.’

Dean’s Kitten had little to purr about after being crowded early. And Backtalk was bumped early enough to discourage that one into last place.

I certainly enjoyed the Derby. In this blog last Friday, Super Saver was the first horse I mentioned after stating that Looking At Lucky and Sidney’s Candy couldn’t win from their posts and that Stately Victor, Mission Impazible and Ice Box could not repeat their previous wins. I backed my opinion on Super Saver by betting him in the second half of the double at Churchill and thanks to an 8-1 winner in the first leg, I cashed $294. See that…two 8-1 shots produced a 147-1 double payoff. I was also pleased with the very strong races produced by Noble’s Promise (5th) and Paddy O’Prado (3rd).  In my doubles, I had Super Saver, Noble’s Promise, Paddy O’Prado, Jackson Bend (12th) and Awesome Act (19th).

It was a great betting race – a favourite at 6-1, a second fave at 8-1. Not a single horse at more than 32-1. $47,944,683 bet in the win,place show on the race. And then there was the incredibly lucky – and astute – fan who won a contest that allowed him to bet $100,000 on any horse in the race. Glen Fullerton of Texas won the Churchill Downs ‘Dream Bet contest and put the whole $100,000 on Super Saver. Fullerton probably considers Calvin Borel his best friend now. While much of the field smashed and body checked each other, Borel gave Super Saver a dream trip for the dream bet. Not only did Borel scoot his horse right to the rail in the opening furlong, but he somehow managed to keep a few lengths behind horses in front of him – this was critical, because the track was wet and muddy and horses in front tend to kick back crap at trailing horses. Only for a small portion of the race – perhaps when Borel came inside of Noble’s Promise at head-stretch, did Super Saver get any significant mud on him.

Borel is great for horse racing. He’s jubilant, uninhibited, emotional and expressive and after the race assured horse fans that Super Saver will win the Triple Crown. That’s quite the boast..the last Triple Crown winner was Affirmed in 1978. Borel’s prediction is promising an end to a 32 year slump.

Meanwhile, the 30th issue of Down The Stretch, Canada’s most informative and entertaining horse racing newspaper is in the hands of Mclaren’s – our printer and will be at the tracks and various Champions betting theatres by the end of the week. As publisher/editor, it behooves me to say it’s another great issue….but it is.

We have the Derby coverage and stories on Fort Erie (Perry Lefko) and Adena Springs ( Keith McCalmont). Every month we present both a thoroughbred and standardbred Owner of the Month, so imagine how delighted we were when both of our subjects scored big wins last Saturday. Donald Ross’s sensational three year-old filly Resentless won the Fury Stakes and is now pointed at the Triple Tiara series for distaff. And Gord Irwin is the owner/trainer of the six year-old pacer Bigtime Ball, who just toyed with his opponents Saturday night in the $42,000 Open Pace at Woodbine, winning in 1:49.1, his second straight sub-1:50 mile.

Man, we sure can pick em, can’t we?