Muth]

There were three different winners of the Triple Crown races and the four Grade I preps leading up to the GI Kentucky Derby were won by still four other horses. That means that as the second half of the 3-year-old season starts in earnest with the July 20 GI Haskell Stakes at Monmouth, the race for the 3-year-old championship is as wide open as possible. Danny Gargan, the trainer of GI Belmont Stakes winner Dornoch (Good Magic), knows that. But Gargan, who has never lacked confidence in his 3-year-old colt,...

Approaching the start of the sixth week of the season at Delaware Park, a pair of apprentices--one a five-pound bugboy and the other still with his seven-pound allowance--are riding high atop the jockey standings. Through Saturday's racing, the Delaware win totals by Gabriel Maldonado (25) and Ederik Robles (18) matched the rookies' ages. Maldonado just finished a blast-off week that saw him winning nine races in a four-day span at three different tracks. On Wednesday, the five-pound apprentice tallied with the last of six afternoon mounts at Delaware, then traveled...

The mighty Curlin's heir apparent might be a son standing alongside him at Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa. Your average young stallion doesn't usually follow up a first-crop Classic winner with another one in his second crop. To be fair, your average young stallion doesn't often have a Classic winner at all. Good Magic is quickly proving he is not your average young stallion. "Classic horses are certainly the peak, the goal of anyone who breeds, sells, or owns, or even stands stallions," said Hill 'n' Dale's John Sikura, who...

It appears that Imagination (Into Mischief) is going to get another trip east. The 3-year-old colt, last seen finishing seventh in the eight-horse GI Preakness S., may be part of a three-horse contingent that Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert is sending to the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course June 6-9. Imagination and fellow 3-year-old Prince of Monaco (Speightstown), who was last seen finishing fifth in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita in November, are being pointed to the seven-furlong GI Woody Stephens S. Baffert...

Baltimore, MD--The journey from the First Saturday in May through the Preakness can be an arduous one, fraught with activity and often times challenges that can try the most steady nerves. Young and old alike could be heard complaining about exhaustion by the time they made it through Preakness day, however, for some, it provided enough buoyancy to raise the Titanic. Such was the case with D. Wayne Lukas Sunday morning, the day after his colt Seize the Grey (Arrogate) wired the second jewel in the Triple Crown. Despite the...

With the scratch of GISW and 'TDN Rising Star' Muth (Good Magic) from Saturday's GI Preakness S. due to a temperature, Lance Gasaway, 4 G Racing, Daniel Hamby III, and Valley View Farm LLC's Mystik Dan (Goldencents) is expected to be the favorite. The GI Kentucky Derby winner galloped 1 3/16 miles on a sloppy, sealed surface Wednesday morning under retired jockey Robby Albarado at Pimlico after the renovation break. "I'm doing a rain dance all this week," said Albarado. "I'm not saying he has to take a racetrack with...

Zedan Racing Stables' 'TDN Rising Star' Muth (Good Magic) has been withdrawn from Saturday's GI Preakness S. after spiking a temperature following his arrival into Pimlico late Tuesday. "We are sick about this. The horse had been doing really well," trainer Bob Baffert told the Pimlico media office. "But we have to do what's right by the horse." Runner-up to fellow 'Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light) in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, the $190,000 Keeneland September yearling turned $2-million OBS March topper came off the bench to win...

To some trainers, the GI Preakness S. has become an afterthought. They worry about making the GI Kentucky Derby, so much to the point that the Preakness is not on their radar. The exception is Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. Yes, he'd like to win the Derby more so than any other race, but the Preakness isn't far behind. He's won it eight times and will be back in Baltimore this week with Muth (Good Magic), the 8-5 morning line favorite, and Imagination (Into Mischief), who is 6-1 on the...

Trainer Bob Baffert joins this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss Preakness-bound Muth and Imagination.

GI Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan (Goldencents) continued his preparation ahead of Saturday's GI Preakness S. with a leg-stretching trip around the Pimlico surface Tuesday morning under Robby Albarado. The pair jogged seven furlongs before Albarado let the colt gallop through 1 1/2 miles. "I let him clip along today, and he's not even blowing," Albarado told Pimlico media following the work. "I thought every day would be a better day for him. He's getting comfortable with his surroundings. He knows where he's at now. I couldn't be more pleased...

In the few days after Mystik Dan (Goldencents) pulled an 18-1 upset in the GI Kentucky Derby, there was the real possibility that none of the 20 horses that competed in the first leg of the Triple Crown would press on to Saturday's GI Preakness S. By Sunday afternoon, any such concerns had abated--the Derby winner had been confirmed by trainer Ken McPeek and Derby fourth Catching Freedom (Constitution) was also given the green light by Brad Cox, joining a field that had already included two each from Hall of...

GI Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan (Goldencents), who was confirmed for the GI Preakness S. Saturday by trainer Kenny McPeek, traveled Sunday to Pimlico Race Course and arrived shortly after 4 p.m. accompanied by McPeek's assistant trainer Ray Bryner. "No muss, no fuss," said Bryner. "He's a really easy horse to be around, not complicated." Bryner indicated that the colt's plans for the week included a Monday gallop over the Pimlico surface following the 8:30 a.m. renovation break.   Mystik Dan headed to @PimlicoRC @PreaknessStakes pic.twitter.com/JWbxDKibZe — Kenny McPeek (@KennyMcPeek)...