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| Staff Writer |
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Tuscan Gold will try to become the third Preakness winner for trainer Chad Brown. The 3YO son of Medaglia D'oro, was scratched from the Peter Pan Stakes at Aqueduct. Tyler Gaffalione will ride the Stonestreet homebred in the Preakness.
Brown had said shortly after colt finished third in the Louisiana Derby behind Catching Freedom, that the Preakness was his initial plan. Over the weekend, when he saddled Sierra Leone to a runner-up finish in the Kentucky Derby, Brown wondered aloud whether Tuscan Gold was seasoned enough to run in the Preakness. He said he would enter the Peter Pan while continuing to contemplate the Preakness. On Thursday, he made the call to go to Baltimore.
"I just feel the horse is doing well," Brown, a two-time Preakness winner, said. My first instinct was to go to the Preakness and train up for the race. I wanted to enter [the Peter Pan] and give myself a little bit of time and also buy me a couple of extra days to see who exactly is running where. After I looked at the whole big picture, the reward would be much greater if we could succeed in the Preakness."
However, entering the Peter Pan would have given Tuscan Gold an extra week and could have been used as a stepping-stone to the Belmont Stakes.
"The Preakness being a Grade 1 and a lot more money for a well-bred horse, but I entered for the extra week to the Belmont," said Brown, who trains Tuscan Gold, a son of Medgalia d'Oro, for William Lawrence, Walmac Farm, and Stonestreet Stables.
Brown won the Preakness in 2017 with Cloud Computing, who had run three times and was coming off a third-place
finish in the Wood Memorial. Brown won the 2022 Preakness with Early Voting, who had run three times and was coming off a second-place finish in the Wood.
The Preakness will be Tuscan Gold's fourth career start after his third-place finish behind Catching Freedom and Honor Marie in the Louisiana Derby. In that race, Tuscan Gold raced wide throughout and was beaten by just 1 3/4 lengths.
"He did not get a good trip. I'm hoping he gets a better trip in the Preakness," Brown said.
Meanwhile, Bob Baffert plans to run Muth, the Arkansas Derby winner, and Imagination, the Santa Anita Derby runner-up, in the Preakness. Baffert said on the national call Thursday that both horses were scheduled to breeze at Santa Anita on Friday and ship to Baltimore next week.
The Preakness draw is on Monday. As of Thursday, the list of possible starters, with likely riders, included Catching Freedom, Copper Tax, Imagination, Just Steel, Muth, Mugatu, Mystik Dan, Seize the Grey, Tuscan Gold, and Uncle Heavy and will run in the US$2 million Preakness Stakes on May 18 at Pimlico, trainer Chad Brown said Thursday the third-place finisher in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby,