Friesan Fire rubbed and bumped against trainer Larry Jones' riding pony early Tuesday morning on his way to the Pimlico Race Course track, seemingly unafraid of the contact and fully recovered from his rough trip in the Kentucky Derby.
"He looks good," said Jones, who had jockey Gabriel Saez work the horse over five furlongs in a swift 58.40 seconds. "I'm very pleased with the way he's healed up. If you didn't know how bad he was, you wouldn't know it. We're really happy with the way he's come along, and we're ready to go."
Friesan Fire, owned by Vinery Stable/Fox Hill Farms, joins one of the strongest Preakness fields. Among those already committed for the 134th running are the top four finishers in the Kentucky Derby, including winner Mine That Bird, and supplemental entry Rachel Alexandra, the 3-year-old Kentucky Oaks winner who has proved herself unmatched among fillies this year.
Jones said he believes Rachel Alexandra might be the best filly since Ruffian.
"Only the Lord knows how good Rachel Alexandra is," Jones said. "If I've got any chance to beat her it will have to be with a boy horse because I've tried all my girls and they couldn't get close."
In the Kentucky Derby, Friesan Fire, the betting favorite, couldn't get close to the front. He finished next to last after a trip in which he grabbed his front left hoof out of the starting gate, ran up on the back of Pioneerof the Nile, striking that horse's back ankle and pulling a chunk of Pioneer's bandage under his own horseshoe. Then he ran the rest of the race kicking himself and being stepped on by others. He came back to his stall battered, cut and bruised, many of the wounds self-inflicted.
The biggest concern, however, was the injury to the bulb at the back of his front left foot that "was peeled down, leaving a long spot of raw meat," Jones said. "Most of the time you cut that strip of skin off because it will shrivel up."
But Jones decided to use a product called Eclipse, made by a veterinarian in Arkansas, to help the skin re-adhere. Jones had faith in the product because he had sliced open his own finger a few weeks earlier. Instead of going for stitches, he pulled the skin together and applied the product. The results were so good it didn't even leave a scar.
"That crazy glue works good," Jones said, laughing. "Injuries like Friesan Fire had used to take a month to heal. But we were very fortunate. We cleaned it out well. Thank goodness they have medications that are better than they had 10 years ago."
