BALTIMORE — With a white star between his eyes, Animal Kingdom looks like a heavyweight champion. And that’s just what the imposing chestnut colt became May 7 in the Kentucky Derby. He seized the belt with a 2 3/4-length knockout that made him the horse to beat in Saturday’s 136th Preakness Stakes.
Pimlico oddsmaker Frank Carulli made Animal Kingdom the 2-1 morning-line favorite Wednesday after he drew post 11 in a maximum field of 14.
“I’d rather be on the outside than stuck on the inside,” trainer Graham Motion said of the post. “I would have preferred to be from the middle to the outside, where I am.”
Just two winners since 1926 have come out of the No. 11 post, the last being Point Given trained by Bob Baffert in 2001. Animal Kingdom, ridden by John Velazquez, will be running only his second race on a dirt track.
“He is in great form. He came out of the (Derby) super,” said Motion, whose previous three Preakness entries never ran better than third. “He hasn’t missed a meal.”
Only four Derby also-rans returned for a rematch in Maryland. Mucho Macho Man (6-1, post 9), Shackleford (12-1, post 5), Dialed In (9-2 second favorite, post 10) and Midnight Interlude (15-1, post 7) are back, with Dance City (12-1, post 8) and Mr. Commons (20-1, post 14) the best of the nine new shooters.
With a victory over the 1 3/16-mile track at Pimlico — and an encore performance at the June 11 Belmont Stakes in Elmont, N.Y. — Animal Kingdom would become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed and jockey Steve Cauthen accomplished the feat in 1978.
Motion admits the thought has crossed his mind.
“Every time I think about the Triple Crown,” he said, “I usually catch myself and try to think about something else.”
