Rodriguez, the Bob Baffert-trained horse who was scratched from the Kentucky Derby due to a foot issue, will also miss the Preakness Stakes on May 17.
Instead, Baffert is planning to run Rodriguez in the Belmont Stakes next month.
“He’ll be perfect for the Belmont,” Baffert said Friday, according to Daily Racing Form. “I couldn’t prep him like I wanted to (for the Preakness). Once he had the foot issue, you got to let those things simmer down. I didn’t have enough time.”
Baffert will have one horse running in the Preakness: Goal Oriented, who also did not run in the Kentucky Derby.
Earlier this week, trainer Bill Mott told Pimlico Race Course, which hosts the Preakness, that Derby winner Sovereignty would skip that race to rest for the Belmont. In fact, only two horses that ran in the Kentucky Derby — Journalism, which placed second, and American Promise (16th) — are currently listed as possible entries in the Preakness field, and a decision is still pending for Journalism.
These developments have pointed attention to a dilemma facing horse racing. Should the sport adjust the Triple Crown schedule, including increasing the break between races, to increase the likelihood of a Triple Crown winner? Or is that what makes the feat special?
“The classics are still the classics. It’s the best 3-year-old horses,” Baffert told The Athletic contributor Dana O’Neil. “I know people are disappointed or whatever, but I also know Bill Mott would love to win a Triple Crown because every trainer wants to win a Triple Crown. But he knows his horse well, and we have to respect that.”
Who is running in the Preakness Stakes?
Here is a list of current possible entrants, listed in alphabetical order. The draw for the race will take place on Monday.
- American Promise
- Clever Again
- Goal Oriented
- Gosger
- Heart of Honor
- Journalism
- Pay Billy
- River Thames
(Top photo of Bob Baffert with Rodriguez on May 1: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)