At Preakness, Orb’s Challengers Include Childhood Friend
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Version 0 of 1. BALTIMORE — They shared the same paddock and gamboled in the same Kentucky bluegrass as weanlings and yearlings. Orb hit the ground first at Claiborne Farm, with Departing tumbling out of his mother a month later. Now 3 years old, the two horses will be reunited Saturday in the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes. Since Orb won the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago, the world has gotten to know the strapping colt, how he was painstakingly bred by one of the first families of American horse racing — even how he got his right nostril caught and stretched in his stall last fall and how he has won five straight races since. Outside Louisiana, horse racing enthusiasts know little about Departing, a gelding who has won four of his five starts, including an impressive three-and-a-quarter-length victory in the Illinois Derby. But he is perhaps Orb’s most formidable challenger in the compact field of nine. If Orb wins, he will go into the Belmont Stakes with a chance to become horse racing’s 12th Triple Crown winner and first since Affirmed in 1978. Departing’s jockey, Brian Hernandez Jr., rode a brilliant tactical race to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic in November aboard an overlooked Fort Larned. And the trainer of Departing, Al Stall Jr., has pulled a shocking upset and blocked a march to history before, in memorable fashion. He conditioned Blame, the colt who in 2010 beat the great race mare Zenyatta in her 20th and final race, preventing her from retiring with a perfect record. Stall understands what he is up against. “I know Orb will run his race, and it is not like him to take a step back,” he said. “We need to take a step forward. I am confident he will run well. The rest of it is out of our control. Orb has found his level; now it is a matter of how high we can go.” There is also an element of déjà vu to this meeting. Orb is owned by the Phipps family, and Departing by Seth Hancock’s Claiborne Farm, and the two clans have been in business together for more than 80 years. The Phipps mares reside at Claiborne in Paris, Ky., and the family has stood many of its stallions there. Both families include old-school sportsmen and have been in this situation before. In the mid-1980s, the Phippses’ Seeking the Gold and Claiborne’s Forty Niner were sons of the same stallion, Mr. Prospector. They were born in the same barn and grew up together in the bluegrass. In the summer of 1988, they raced first in the Haskell Invitational and then in the Travers Stakes, thrilling horse players as they rocketed down the stretch side by side in both races. Twice, Forty Niner and Claiborne were winners by a nose. “It’s why we race horses,” said Ogden Mills Phipps, who is known as Dinny and owns Orb with his cousin Stuart S. Janney Jr. “You got to beat the best out there no matter who owns them.” Orb’s trainer, Shug McGaughey, has made no secret of his faith in his long-striding colt. In fact, he says Orb reminds him of Seeking the Gold, Forty Niner and Easy Goer — tough, well-bred horses who flourished in hard races. This week, after Orb turned in a half-mile workout that was blistering on the clock but looked effortless to the eye, McGaughey admitted to feeling chills running up his spine as he watched the colt run. “I thought it was nothing short of magnificent,” he said. “He’s a throwback horse, and I think we’re in the position where we can kind of dictate the race and hope, if we don’t get in trouble, that he can make his run and then see what happens.” Orb is breaking from the No. 1 post, which can be a curse in a 20-horse field like the Derby’s but should be of little concern here, especially because Orb is a closer and will be loping far behind the pacesetters, like Govenor Charlie and Goldencents. Stall said that by virtue of being the Derby winners, Orb and his jockey, Joel Rosario, should not expect to have their own way as they navigate through the mile and three-sixteenths of the Preakness. “I am sure all the riders will be keeping an eye on Orb,” Stall said. “Shug said he wanted a target on his back, and he’s sure got one.” By 6:40 p.m. or so Saturday, fans will know whether Orb will pull into New York with a chance to pursue the sport’s holy grail. A lot can go wrong. “We hope he doesn’t get in trouble,” McGaughey said. “We hope he handles the track. We hope he handles the kickback of dirt. We hope he handles the day.” A lot can go right. “If he does all that,” McGaughey said, “I would have to think it’s going to take a pretty darn good horse to beat him.” |