AMERICAN PHAROAH DORTMUND

"Those two looked good," Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said after watching American Pharoah and Dortmund train at Churchill Downs the morning of May 12. Both colts are expected for the May 16 Xpressbet.com Preakness Stakes (gr. I).

"American Pharoah, he is something to see out there," Baffert. "He just floats over the track. Dortmund looked like a happy horse out there today."

American Pharoah (by Pioneerof the Nile  ) and Dortmund (by Big Brown  ), the respective first- and third-place finishers in the May 2 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), will ship to Pimlico Race Course in Maryland May 13. Zayat Stables' American Pharoah and Kaleem Shah's third Dortmund galloped 1 1/2 miles on a mild Tuesday morning at Churchill.

After the harrow break, the two backtracked to the front side of the track. American Pharoah, with Jorge Alvarez up, began his exercise with Dortmund and Dana Barnes following less than a minute later.

Baffert, who has won the Preakness five times, is three-for-three with his Derby winners coming back in two weeks to prevail at Pimlico. Silver Charm was the first in 1997, followed by Real Quiet in 1998 and War Emblem in 2002.

"They were totally different horses," Baffert said. "The main concern is that they look healthy and are doing good. That is all you can hope for going into a race."

Baffert's other Preakness winners, Point Given   in 2001 and Lookin At Lucky   in 2010, had finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in the Derby before going to Pimlico.

"I always won with the best horse," Baffert said. "Usually those were the best horses of that crop."

Baffert said the forecast of a chance of thunderstorms Saturday would not be a detriment to American Pharoah.

"If it rains, we know American Pharoah loves the mud," Baffert said, alluding to the colt's 6 1/4-length 2015 debut victory in the slop at Oaklawn Park in the Rebel Stakes (gr. II). "I don't know about Dortmund."

Baffert's two colts are scheduled to fly to Baltimore after morning trainer hours at Churchill Wednesday.

Also at Churchill May 12, Arnold Zetcher's Firing Line (Line of David  ) continued to prepare for the Preakness by galloping 1 1/2 miles under exercise rider Humberto Gomez after the morning break for renovation.

"He won't train in the morning," said Carlos Santamaria, assistant to trainer Simon Callaghan. "He will load here at 10 (a.m. EDT) and Simon will be waiting for us at Pimlico."

Firing Line had concluded his past two days of training with open gallops, and Gomez said the colt was looking for more Tuesday. "I wanted to give him an easy day today and he wants to do more," he said. "He has got a great attitude, and when he gets to the quarter pole, he wants to go."

"Everything has gone perfect," Santamaria said. "The weather has cooled and he has done well. Knock wood, we keep it the same until we leave."

Charles Fipke's Tale of Verve (Tale of Ekati  ) who was entered but did not draw into the main body of the Derby, returned to the track May 12 to gallop 1 1/2 miles under exercise rider Kortez Walker.

"I was going to jog him today, but, instead, had him gallop an easy mile and a half," trainer Dallas Stewart said of Tale of Verve. "He'll jog in the morning and load at the barn (for the flight to Baltimore) at 10."

With Tale of Verve going out early for his morning activity, Stewart has had time to do a little scouting of his other Preakness competition training at Churchill.

"American Pharoah looks really good. He is the horse to beat," Stewart said. "They all trained well before the Derby and Firing Line looks strong. Those two look the strongest, and (trainer Mark) Casse's horse (Danzig Moon) always looks good training."

With trainer Todd Pletcher's decision not to run any horses in the Preakness, trainer Arnoud Delacour received confirmation from agent Matt Muzikar that champion jockey Javier Castellano will ride the Lael Stables' Divining Rod (Tapit  ) in the Preakness Stakes. Two-time Eclipse Award winer Castellano replaces Julien Leparoux, who is scheduled to ride Danzig Moon.

Divining Rod will be Castellano's fourth Preakness mount. He won with Bernardini   in 2006.

Coolmore Lexington Stakes (gr. III) winner Divining Rod galloped 1 1/4 miles on the Tapeta track at the Fair Hill Training Center May 12 then schooled in the gate. Delacour said he decided to use the synthetic surface instead of the dirt track because it had rained overnight.

"I'm very interested to see how he will handle the step up in competition and the stretch out," Delacour said. "I'm a lot more confident after the Lexington about his ability to do both. I think the horse has started to understand it a little bit. This is the time of the year that a 3-year-old should start showing that experience.

"What I hope is going to make the difference now is that the horse can still break well and get a position—that he doesn't have to make the lead and can sit off the pace a little bit if he needs to. That will be up to the jock and why we have that kind of rider."

John Oxley's Danzig Moon galloped a mile at Churchill under exercise rider William Cano May 12 with assistant trainer Norman Casse observing. The son of Malibu Moon   is scheduled to train again May 13 before boarding a flight to Maryland.

The colt, a troubled fifth in the Derby, is slated to make the fifth start of his sophomore campaign at his fifth different racetrack in the Preakness.

"Not that the two weeks is ideal for anybody, but I don't think it will bother him much," Mark Casse said. "He's tough. You just never know until they run, but we think he's still on his game.

"He's a talented horse. He likes to do what he does, and if you're not careful he can get a little too ambitious. The thing is, though, he will rate in a race."



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