Preakness notes
At lot at stake for Hemmingway’s Key BALTIMORE (AP) – Talk about pressure. Hemingway’s Key could be gelded if the disappointing 3-year-old runs another poor race in today’s Preakness Stakes.
Owned by George Steinbrenner’s Kinsman Stable, Hemingway’s Key is winless in four starts this season and has yet to run a competitive race. He finished eighth most recently in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 22.
Time is running out to prove he has his mind on racing.
“Let’s put it this way,” Zito said. “If he doesn’t show something Saturday, then he might have to be gelded. Maybe he’d be better off. That’s the last thing I want to do because I know he’s got much more ability than he’s showing.”
The colt showed immediate promise last season. Purchased for $210,000 as a 2-year-old, Hemingway’s Key broke his maiden at Churchill Downs last November and won an allowance race at Calder.
Since then, nothing.
Hemingway’s Key, 30-1 on the morning line, will be ridden by Jeremy Rose, who won last year’s Preakness with Afleet Alex. Zito will also be looking for his second Preakness win after he won in 1996 with Louis Quatorze.
Zito knows he has only an outsiders’ chance this time
“He’s got a lot of ability, but head-wise he needs to settle down and get into a good rhythm,” Zito said. “I’ll find out Saturday, and what better way to find out. Maybe he knows what’s going to happen to him if he doesn’t run good.”
DOWN ON THE FARM: Michael Matz extended an invitation to Dan Hendricks to visit his private barn at the Fair Hill Training Center.
Matz is the trainer of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, the even-money favorite in the Preakness. He offered a tour of the bucolic equine center, which is about an hour away from Pimlico in Elkton, Md.
Besides Barbaro, Matz has 50 horses stabled there.
Hendricks trains Brother Derek, who tied for fourth in the Derby and is the 3-1 second choice in the Preakness. He is both curious and apprehensive about visiting the farm.
“I’m just not sure I want to see that nice a training facility and then have to go home to Santa Anita,” Hendricks said.
Matz and Hendricks met for the first time since the Derby on Wednesday night at the Preakness post position draw.
“I haven’t really been able to meet him and talk to him enough,” Hendricks said. “The other night was the first time I got to congratulate him because he was so busy after the Derby.
If the wheelchair-bound Hendricks accepts the invitation, the visit will probably occur before the Preakness.
“We might not want to talk to each other after the race,” Hendricks said.
UNITING FOR A GOOD CAUSE: Jockeys and racetracks are often at odds over issues such as insurance coverage and safety issues.
Both sides joined forces Thursday for a press conference at Pimlico to launch the Permanently Disabled Jockey Fund.
The fund aims to raise $1 million this year to assist 60 former riders, including Ron Turcotte, who won the Triple Crown in 1973 aboard Secretariat and was permanently disabled in a racing spill in 1978.
Major racetrack operators including Magna Entertainment Corp., Churchill Downs Inc. and the New York Racing Association have donated $250,000. Fans can participate starting Preakness weekend by purchasing caps and wristbands at racetracks around the country.
The money will cover health care and living expenses for the disabled riders from thoroughbred and quarterhorse racing.
“You read the biographies of these people and their stories are inspirational,” said Don Amos, chief operation officer of Magna. “We have to get behind this as an industry.”
John Velazquez, a two-time Eclipse Award winner as a champion jockey, spoke on behalf of the riders.
“This really encourages everybody to come to the same table and talk about a cause that affects a lot of riders,” said Velazquez, chairman of the Jockeys’ Guild.
Velazquez, recovering from a broken shoulder and cracked ribs in a spill at Keeneland on April 20, said he is making steady progress.
He didn’t have a return date but said, “Hopefully, I’ll be ready pretty soon.”