Afleet Alex

Afleet Alex, winner of the Preakness and Belmont, will stand as a stallion at Gainesway Farm in Lexington, Ky., in the heart of Bluegrass country. "Having Afleet Alex stand at Gainesway is one of the most exciting moments in our 18 years of owning Gainesway," farm president Antony Beck said yesterday. "There's already a huge buzz at the farm." Beck said Afleet Alex's 2006 stud fee will be $40,000 per live foal. Afleet Alex was retired this month because of an ankle injury. The horse finished with eight wins in 12 starts and earnings of more than $2.7 million for the Cash Is King Stable, and nearly became the sport's 12th Triple Crown winner.

As preparations begin on Old Hilltop for the 137th running of the Preakness Stakes, the star of the field already has a confirmed arrival date. Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another will show up Monday, much earlier than originally expected - and before most horses in recent years have begun their acclimation to Pimlico. Trainer Doug O'Neill, fresh off a long night of celebrating and on about three hours of sleep, said Sunday morning at Churchill Downs that he and the colt's connections had reversed their original decision to keep I'll Have Another at Churchill Downs this week.

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."

Preakness winner Shackleford worked five furlongs in 1 minute, 0.3 seconds Saturday morning at Belmont Park, after which trainer Dale Romans announced that the horse will run in the 143rd renewal of the Grade 1 $1 million Belmont Stakes next Saturday. "As long as he comes out of the work good he will run," Romans said after conferring via telephone with owner Michael Lauffer. "I think he's going to be very competitive. " The announcement sets up a rubber match between Shackleford and Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom that will represent just the 22nd time in the history of the Triple Crown that the Derby and Preakness winners have met in the Belmont.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - John Martin Silvertand plans to fly to Texas to root on Afleet Alex in the $1.5 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile on Saturday at Lone Star Park. Silvertand, who lives in West Palm Beach, Fla., bred Afleet Alex, one of the nation's most promising 2-year-olds. Silvertand plans to follow Afleet Alex through the spring preps leading to the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. What's more, Silvertand has a weanling filly on the farm who's a half sister to Afleet Alex, and he can't wait to watch her mature and run. "I try to set goals for myself," Silvertand said.

STANTON, Del. -- It has been three years since jockey Jeremy Rose rode Afleet Alex to a stunning victory in the Preakness at Pimlico Race Course. But as he sat on a bench outside the jockeys' room at Delaware Park this week, he still could feel the horse under him, still sense the disaster nearly averted. And still recall it as if he had just finished the race. "At the three-eighths pole, we were still six or seven lengths off it [the lead]," said Rose, excitement touching his voice. "The horse in front of me decided to go out, around Scappy T and another horse.

After a frightening, lightning-quick incident on the final turn nearly knocked him off his feet, the nimble and powerful Afleet Alex rocketed to victory in the 130th Preakness Stakes before a record crowd of 115,318 yesterday at Pimlico Race Course . Scrappy T, who was leading, suddenly cut in front of Afleet Alex, who was charging, and the horses clipped heels. Afleet Alex's front legs crumpled, and his nose nearly hit the ground. As jockey Jeremy Rose desperately hung on, Afleet Alex regained his balance and, amazingly, his momentum.

ELMONT, N.Y. - The Triple Crown series, which began with such competitive promise five weeks ago, has come down to one horse and a thousand lemonade stands. Of all the horses who ventured down the Triple Crown trail, Afleet Alex has established the best record and claimed the most hearts. He will be heavily favored today at Belmont Park to add the $1 million Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown, to his impressive resume. The tireless colt has won five stakes races, as many as the other 10 Belmont horses combined.

Jockey Jeremy Rose rode into history yesterday with an acrobatic recovery on a resilient colt to earn a measure of vindication for both. With Rose aboard, Afleet Alex averted a potentially tragic fall in the stretch to win the 130th Preakness Stakes dramatically and emphatically at Pimlico Race Course. When 3-1 favorite Afleet Alex clipped heels with a sharply veering Scrappy T, he came within inches of falling in front of the 14-horse field, taking Rose with him. "I thought for sure we were going down," Rose said amid smiles and kisses in a post-race news conference.

Scrappy T was much more than scrappy coming out of the final turn of yesterday's 130th Preakness Stakes. A horse that started the day at 20-1 odds was in the lead with his jockey, Ramon Dominguez, thinking the only question left was how many lengths he would win by. Instead, Dominguez was left wondering exactly what happened from that point on when his horse and then himself got caught by surprise and veered into the eventual winner, Afleet Alex....

Ramon Dominguez has gone to post thousands of times, but settling his horse in the starting gate for Preakness is especially exhilarating and requires all of his concentration. "The people are going crazy and it gets you in the mood," he said. "But then you have to zoom out. You really don't hear anything. You have to think about getting ready about what's to come. If the horse is ready to break, you are so focused. But the only time you realize that is when a horse throws a fit and you have to wait and reset.

Preakness Sway Away moves into void created by Santiva's exit The defection of Santiva, the sixth-place Kentucky Derby finisher, on Saturday has cleared the way for Sway Away to be included in the prospective 14-horse field for the Preakness next Saturday at Pimlico Race Course in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown. Sway Away, the son of Afleet Alex, just missed qualifying for the 20-horse Derby — he was 21st in graded-stakes earnings. The Jeff Bonde -trained horse will be ridden by Garrett Gomez . Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom jogged a half-mile Saturday and galloped a mile.

Is it ever too early to look ahead at what the weather might be like on Preakness Saturday? Yes. Yes it is. Let's do it anyway. According to The Weather Channel, it will be be 76 degrees and rainy a week from today. AccuWeather predicts pretty much the same: 79 degrees with a chance of thunderstorms. Though I've never before taken part in the revelry that is the infield at Pimlico on the biggest racing day of the year, but guess is that a little rain won't dampen spirits.

Ramon Dominguez's Laurel Park homecoming party included time in the winner's circle, as he rode Harissa to victory in the $150,000, Grade II Barbara Fritchie Handicap for fillies and mares Saturday at Laurel Park. Harissa, down from Belmont Park from the stable of Michael Hushion, sped through the seven-furlong distance in 1:23.65, finishing 21/4 lengths in front of Aspenglow, ridden by Travis Dunkelberger. Fascinatin' Rhythm finished third. "I'd never ridden her before," said Dominguez, the 2010 Eclipse Award winner.

New York-based trainer David Donk wasn't sure about how his horse, Pays to Dream, would perform in yesterday's $250,000 Dixie Stakes. The 3-year-old had struggled on soggy turf before, and Friday's rain had made the Pimlico surface a little soft. What transpired over the second half of 1 1/8 -mile Grade II race surprised even Donk, when he watched his 19-1 long shot go from the middle of an eight pack to a dominant 7 1/2 -length victory. The win, the first for the 4-year-old gelding in his past four starts and the fifth overall since starting with three straight victories, paid $40.40.

STANTON, Del. -- It has been three years since jockey Jeremy Rose rode Afleet Alex to a stunning victory in the Preakness at Pimlico Race Course. But as he sat on a bench outside the jockeys' room at Delaware Park this week, he still could feel the horse under him, still sense the disaster nearly averted. And still recall it as if he had just finished the race. "At the three-eighths pole, we were still six or seven lengths off it [the lead]," said Rose, excitement touching his voice. "The horse in front of me decided to go out, around Scappy T and another horse.

Prices soared over a year ago at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's Two-Year-Olds in Training two-day auction that ended yesterday at the Timonium sales pavilion. The number of horses sold jumped to 386 from 354 the year before, and the increases in gross receipts and average price were even more substantial. Gross receipts were $18,911,500, a 43 percent increase from 2004, when $13,227,800 in sales was recorded. The average price this year was $48,994, a 31 percent increase from 2004, when the average price was $37,367.

In a small Mexican village right now, there are dozens of people walking around wearing T-shirts bearing the name of a horse. In a small Pennsylvania town, there's a terminally ill man who counts the past year as a blessed gift, afforded to him by a horse. And that horse? Just 12 months removed from one of the most amazing Preakness wins in the race's 130-year history, Afleet Alex is grazing on some of Kentucky's finest bluegrass, living the life young colts dream about. In just one year's time, we can already say this much: There has been no racehorse in recent memory whose impact and influence have stretched so far, so quickly.

Afleet Alex, winner of the Preakness and Belmont, will stand as a stallion at Gainesway Farm in Lexington, Ky., in the heart of Bluegrass country. "Having Afleet Alex stand at Gainesway is one of the most exciting moments in our 18 years of owning Gainesway," farm president Antony Beck said yesterday. "There's already a huge buzz at the farm." Beck said Afleet Alex's 2006 stud fee will be $40,000 per live foal. Afleet Alex was retired this month because of an ankle injury. The horse finished with eight wins in 12 starts and earnings of more than $2.7 million for the Cash Is King Stable, and nearly became the sport's 12th Triple Crown winner.