Jockey

When I'll Have Another narrowly dodged being clipped by a rider-less horse who had gotten loose on the Belmont Park track last week, he avoided the sort of complication nobody had been talking about. Who could worry about something like that when there are so many other things that could go wrong? The final leg of the Triple Crown has proved, for almost a century, to be difficult enough without factoring in unruly horses. Eleven of the 30 colts who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness managed to win the Belmont Stakes.

Graham Motion can't help but hear snippets of news coming from Elmont, N.Y., where I'll Have Another is preparing for a shot at the first Triple Crown in 34 years. "It's great for the sport," the Fair Hill-based trainer said. "But for us, it's tough, too. The length that he won by at Preakness, we lost by that much last year. " Motion can take some solace in knowing the colt that gave him such a gallant run, Animal Kingdom, is finally headed back toward the race track.

Kent Desormeaux will not ride Dullahan in the Belmont Stakes June 9, the Des Moines Register reported Monday . Javier Castellano, who leads all jockeys with $7.9 million in earnings this year, will replace the three-time Kentucky Derby winner. Desormeaux has struggled with alcohol problems in the past and failed a breathalyzer test last Friday at Belmont Park. He was pulled off Tiger Walk for the Preakness Stakes. “We are confident that Kent will address his issues and be back at the track better than ever and we hope to ride him when that happens,” Donegal president Jerry Crawford told the Register.

Two days after Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another's thrilling win over Bodemeister under sunny skies and in front of a packed house, Maryland Jockey Club president Tom Chuckas pronounced the 137th running of the Preakness a rousing success. "I couldn't be happier," he said Monday. "From the standpoint of attendance, we had 121,000. We wagered about $80 million. The best part of this is we had very few problems. ... I received more compliments today and yesterday from the public, many e-mails, many phone calls.

Mike Smith appeared dazed in the moments after his horse, Bodemeister, was again beaten by Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another - this time by a neck in Saturday's Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course . The veteran jockey wore the frozen smile of a man hardly able to fathom what had just transpired. "I swear I don't know how he ran me down, man," Smith said after trainer Bob Baffert approached in the fading sunlight. "You did a good job," the 59-year-old trainer told the 46-year-old jockey, a fellow Hall of Famer and former Preakness winner who recently passed 5,000 career victories.

"Black-Eyed Susans! Get 'em here!" Emanuel Sabedra shouted inside the front gates, above the excited throngs and circling planes and buzzing engines of golf carts zipping by. Sabedra, dressed in maroon and gold jockey shirt, has been hawking the $9 cocktails at Preakness for 12 years. By 11 a.m., he had sold five racks of 24. Butch Hoppe, a 24-year-old trucking company owner, had his first taste of the Preakness staple. "It's alright," he said. "I got it for the souvenir cup more than the drink.

Kent Desormeaux, who was taken off his mounts Friday at Belmont after failing a Breathalyzer test, will not ride Sagamore Farm's Tiger Walk in the Preakness. Sagamore manager Tom Mullikin said Ramon Dominguez will get the ride. "We just can't have that," Mullikin said Friday after watching Sagamore filly Millionreasonswhy finish second in the eighth race. "We're trying to be professional. We don't need those distractions. " Dominguez is tied for the best winning percentage among all jockeys this year (with Javier Castellano, at 25 percent)

Rosie Napravnik has been establishing herself as one of the world's top female jockeys in 2012, which continued Friday afternoon as the ran away with the second-annual Female Jockey Challenge at Pimlico Race Course. The competition consisted of seven premier female riders, who earned points for finishing in the top four among challenge competitors in four different races. Napravnik finished with 34 points, while Tammy Piermarini, the runner-up, tallied 16. “I haven't had much luck in these challenges, but I guess it all changed today,” Napravnik, a Maryland native, said.

Horse racing's center stage, the place where the industry's best jockeys and trainers reside, is getting crowded. Ramon Dominguez, John Velazquez and current No. 1 jockey Javier Castellano may not be ready to exit stage left. Trainers Todd Pletcher, Bob Baffert and Steve Asmussen might not want to either. But evolution happens in every sport. Here's a look at a few prospects who are making waves in horse racing's next generation. For jockeys, ability and toughness count In the jockey world California-based Joel Rosario, New York-based Rosie Napravnik and Kentucky Derby winner Mario Gutierrez are muscling for space.

Maryland-based jockey Mario Pino says he once heard that the great race rider Laffit Pincay would wear his underwear inside out. For luck. Ramon Dominguez, Eclipse Award-winning jockey the last two years, likes to have Perrier water and animal crackers in his jockey room stall. And he puts his left boot on first. Always. They call horse racing the fastest two minutes in sports, but a jockey's preparation begins the night before and continues until the moment the starting gates clang open.