Afleet Alex appears none the worse for wear after his near-disastrous experience during his victory in the 130th Preakness on Saturday.
He returned to the Pimlico Race Course track yesterday morning for the first time since the big race, taking a two-mile jog, and trainer Tim Ritchey said, "I was ecstatic that he came out of the race as well as he has.
"He was a touch stiff the first mile, which was to be expected. But by the time he was jogging the second mile, his ears were up and he was jogging forward and striding right out."
Ritchey plans to send Afleet Alex to the track several more times until Saturday morning, when he will be shipped to New York for the Belmont Stakes on June 11.
The incident happened shortly after the final turn in the 1 3/16-mile Preakness when Afleet Alex was charging from behind and taking aim at Scrappy T, then the leader. Scrappy T suddenly veered outward when whipped left-handed by Ramon Dominguez, directly into the path of Afleet Alex and his rider, Jeremy Rose.
The two horses clipped heels and Afleet Alex stumbled badly and nearly unseated Rose. Both, however, recovered their balance and went on to a convincing victory. Had they fallen, 12 horses were behind them going full speed, a formula for disaster.
"It was absolutely amazing," said Ritchey, an Elkton resident. "I have never seen anything like it in horse racing, where the horse didn't go down or finished second, third, fourth, fifth or even pull up."
