Expect the field around Mine That Bird to fill quickly. Two fresh colts - or shooters - were added Monday, and their connections saw the same opportunity. Altogether, four horses are committed to the Preakness - Mine That Bird, Derby fourth-place finisher Papa Clem, Big Drama and Hull.
"If you're kind of searching around for a softer Triple Crown spot, out of the three dances, this might be the best," said David Fawkes, a trainer in Davie, Fla., who will send Big Drama to Baltimore this week.
"When you watch the Derby and see a 50-1 shot win, it can only help the Preakness. There might be some trainers who may not have thought their horses had Triple Crown abilities, but now might take a chance."
Big Drama has won five of seven lifetime starts but was disqualified and placed second in his only race this year. He bumped This Ones for Phil in the stretch in the Grade II Swale Stakes at Gulfstream Park. On Monday, the son of Montbrook went six furlongs in 1 minute, 14 seconds at Calder Race Course.
"He is the kind of horse where you can put him anywhere you want," Fawkes said. "He can sit off the lead and he has a huge turn of foot. When you push the gas pedal, he goes. He really should be undefeated. The only time we got beat to the wire was rider error [in his debut last July]."
By late afternoon, Hull, who won the Derby Trial on April 25, was added to the race, as well. Barry Irwin, owner of Team Valor International, said he was persuaded by jockey Miguel Mena to enter Hull in the Preakness.
"The Kentucky Derby was a very hard, grueling race, and any horse coming out of that will be compromised to a certain extent," Irwin told the Maryland Jockey Club.
Hull, the son of Holy Bull, is unbeaten in three races this year but has not gone around two turns in any of the three.
"It sure would be nice if we had done it once so the horse could get the condition and experience, but sometimes life is not ideal and you have to seize the opportunity when it presents itself," Irwin said. "I like the horse, but it was the jockey who swayed me. ... He says we have gotten nowhere near the bottom of him. That encouraged me to want to try the Preakness."
Mine That Bird, meanwhile, won't leave Louisville until Monday or Tuesday next week. Woolley said he won't breeze his colt before the race.
"I might walk him one day, maybe the day we ship, but he will have no breezes before the Preakness," Woolley said.
PREAKNESS May 16, Pimlico
Post time: Approximately 6:18 p.m.
TV: 4:30 p.m., chs. 11, 4
