Preakness 2015 | No rain on Pharoah's parade

BALTIMORE -- There was rain all right, but no raining on American Pharoah's parade as the Kentucky Derby winner stayed on course Saturday for the Triple Crown.

Even as it stormed on the Pimlico record crowd of 131,680, American Pharoah stormed to a front-running, seven-length victory in the $1.5 million Preakness Stakes over 28-1 Tale of Verve.

It was another length back to Keeneland's Lexington winner Divining Rod, with Derby third-place finisher Dortmund fourth in the field of eight 3-year-olds.

"He's just an incredible horse," said trainer Bob Baffert, winning a sixth Preakness to tie his pal D. Wayne Lukas, both trailing 19th century kingpin R.W. Walden's seven. "What he does is amazing. ... American Pharoah from day one, people were expecting this. With the weather, I was getting a little leery. But you know what, great horses do great things, and he showed it today."

Baffert, who also trains Dortmund, and jockey Victor Espinoza remained unbeaten in the Preakness with Kentucky Derby winners. Now they'll try to do something they've whiffed at previously: Complete the Triple Crown sweep on June 6 in New York's Belmont Stakes. Horse racing's coveted hat trick last was accomplished in 1978 by Affirmed.

"I was honestly happy for the sport," said Ahmed Zayat, whose Zayat Stables owns and bred American Pharoah. "Sport without a star is not a sport. And today, winning the historic Preakness at Pimlico is an unbelievable honor for us. Now, God willing, he comes out of the race well, and we could be talking about history. How could I be happier than that? This is a dream come true."

Baffert becomes the first trainer to get four attempts at the Triple Crown. His three prior attempts without success also are a record after finishing second in the 1997 Belmont with Silver Charm, second by a nose in 1998 with Real Quiet and eighth in 2008 with War Emblem, who was ridden by Espinoza.

"I don't even want to think about (the Triple Crown) right now," the California-based Baffert said. "I want to enjoy this. It's tough up there. I've been there, and I don't want to think about it for another couple of weeks. We'll just see how the horse comes back. It's been a great ride so far."

The 140th Preakness followed a sultry afternoon — with Pimlico plagued by plumbing problems when a water-main broke a couple of blocks from the track — the temperature dropping from the oncoming storm. The showers started as the horses were coming over to the paddock and picked up when they were in the post parade. Thunder started rolling as the horses circled behind the starting gate, but the race went off on time.

"I've never been through anything like that," Baffert said. "It was crazy. I thought, 'I don't know what's going to happen.' These horses, you could tell that they don't like it when they get pelted like that. I was worried about the cotton balls in his ears. 'What if they're getting soaking wet? How is he going to react? Maybe I should have taken them out.' Then I saw a picture of the track, and it was like a river running on the rail. I thought, 'He's got to run through that?'"

American Pharoah broke on the rail, which last produced a winner in 1994 and before that 1960. The rain did have one impact: Espinoza said he changed his plans about how to ride the Derby winner after the downpour.

"He broke a little slow, then I pushed him to go to the front," he said. "As soon as I took the lead, he was very comfortable cruising along at a high speed."

Espinoza said he didn't expect to go to the lead. "After the rain I changed my mind," he told NBC's Donna Brothers with a laugh. "I got all wet, and I didn't want to be behind horses."

The Lukas-trained Mr. Z, who was owned by Zayat until Preakness entry day, when he was sold to another client in Calumet Farm, chased after American Pharoah. But the Derby winner was quicker, going the first quarter-mile in 22.90 seconds and the half-mile in 46.49 before Espinoza backed down the pace to six furlongs in 1:11.42.

Said Baffert: "Turning down the backside, when I saw those ears go up, I thought, 'Oh, yeah.'"

American Pharoah dispatched his last challenger on the far turn and cruised away from the competition, tapped a couple of times with the right-hand whip but mostly hand-ridden by Espinoza through the stretch, in contrast to the Kentucky Derby when his whip count was 32 by some estimates.

American Pharoah paid $3.80 to win as the odds-on favorite. One thing that will be scrutinized is his time of 1:58.46 for 1 3/16miles over a track rated sloppy, the slowest since Fabius won the 1956 Preakness in 1:58 2/5. But it's hard to know the impact of weather. The track had been "sealed," or packed down, then harrowed right before the rains came.

Dortmund, the Santa Anita Derby winner who lost for the first time when third in the Kentucky Derby, settled into third, drafting behind the leaders. Mr. Z began giving way, as Divining Rod, who'd been in striking position, was picking up and looming on the inside under Javier Castellano.

But Tale of Verve, ridden by Joel Rosario, was closing faster on the extreme outside after being 18 lengths back in last half-way through the race. While second, he fell well short of pulling off perhaps the biggest upset in modern Triple Crown history, given that Tale of Verve had needed six starts to win a maiden race and had never been in any kind of stakes. Still, he gave Louisville trainer Dallas Stewart his second runner-up finish in the Preakness with a longshot to go along with a pair of long-shot seconds in the Derby.

"Who knows, sink or swim, right?" Stewart said. "I had no idea where he was in the race. I didn't know how far back he was. Tremendous performance, tremendous performance by the winner. Dipped in a little in the stretch, very proud of him, to the say the least."

Mr. Z finished fifth, followed by Danzig Moon, Firing Line and Bodhisattva.

"I needed a shark or a dolphin. It would have made it a lot better to get through that water," said Corey Nakatani, who rode Mr. Z. "It was coming down pretty good. Usually if it wasn't on national TV, I think they would have postponed it a few minutes. You literally couldn't see."

The big disappointment was second choice Firing Line, the Derby runner-up widely considered to have the best shot to upend American Pharoah. But Firing Line stumbled at the start and never was in the hunt.

"That was our race today," said his jockey, Gary Stevens.

American Pharoah captured his sixth-straight race after losing his debut Aug. 9 at Del Mar. In bringing his earnings to $3,368,800 with the $900,000 payday, the bay colt did what his sire, Pioneerof the Nile was unable to do.

Pioneerof the Nile, also campaigned by Zayat, finished second in the 2009 Kentucky Derby won by 50-1 Mine That Bird and was 11th in the Preakness, which proved his last race.

"I've never won this race as easily, as handily," Baffert said. "I always said this is the easiest of the three (Triple Crown) legs. The next race, I know everybody is sharpening their knives, getting ready."

Said Justin Zayat, the owner's son and racing manager: "Bring it on."