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Three key Preakness new shooters
- Updated: May 19, 2016
12:16 PM ET
This week we shift gears and take a look at three of the key new shooters for the Preakness Stakes — meaning runners who did not compete in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands — and assess their chances to pull an upset Saturday at Pimlico Race Course.
Cherry Wine
Ability: It took Cherry Wine five starts to earn his first win, but the breakthrough was an impressive 9-1/4-length runaway at Churchill Downs that was followed by another six-length romp at Gulfstream Park. He earned a 95 Equibase Speed Figure for his second win and then achieved a new career-best 98 speed figure for finishing fourth in his stakes debut in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes. After a nice third-place finish in the Grade 1 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, Cherry Wine was pointed for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands but did not have sufficient points to qualify and was re-routed to the Preakness, a race his trainer, Dale Romans, won in 2011 with Shackleford. He’s in very good form right now, but Cherry Wine would need to run by far the fastest race of his career to win the Preakness or even to just challenge Nyquist.
Running style: Cherry Wine is a deep closer who probably would have benefitted from the lightning-fast pace in the Kentucky Derby. He figures to get a solid pace to close into in the Preakness as well, but horses with tactical speed tend to fare better in the Preakness than closers.
Will Cherry Wine be the first runner to defeat Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist? Coady Photography
Pedigree: Cherry Wine is from the first crop of Paddy O’Prado, a Grade 1 winner on grass who finished third in the 2010 Kentucky Derby. His dam (mother), C. S. Royce, by Unbridled’s Song, won a pair of races at 1-1/16 miles, both on the grass. Cherry Wine’s grandam (maternal grandmother) is multiple stakes winner Sweeping Story, the third-place finisher in the 1999 Kentucky Oaks.
I’ve long been a fan of Cherry Win, but in this spot I think he’s got a great chance to finish in the …
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