Clever Again Has a Really Good Chance to Win Preakness Stakes

BALTIMORE, MD – Jockey Jose Ortiz earned his first victory in the Preakness Stakes (G1) in 2022 with Early Voting, a horse who had only three lifetime starts. Now Ortiz will try to win his second on another horse making his fourth career start in Saturday’s 150th running of the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown at Pimlico Race Course: Clever Again.

“He’s done nothing wrong. He earned a spot there,” Ortiz said by phone of Clever Again, trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen. “Very happy with him, the way he’s going toward the race. He worked amazing [ at Churchill Downs] two weeks ago. I think he has a really good shot to win.”

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Clever Again, a $500,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase, is a son of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. He’s owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds and Coolmore partners Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith.

The colt, who has a forehead blaze that looks a bit like a question mark or wrench, debuted at Keeneland in April of his 2-year-old season, going head-and-head for the lead before finishing second by a head in the 4 ½-furlong race. Off 10 months, he returned for a front-running romp at Oaklawn Park in a 1 1/16-mile maiden race, followed by wiring the field to take the $200,000 Hot Springs Stakes by four lengths over favored Gaming, a Grade 1 winner.

Clever Again is rated fourth on the morning line at 5-1 in the Preakness field of nine 3-year-olds.

“If he runs the same kind of (handicapping) numbers, he’s very competitive,” Ortiz said.

As does Asmussen, Ortiz likes that Clever Again drew Post 8. All the other speed is to his inside, including 2-for-2 Goal Oriented from the rail. Ortiz also can keep an eye on Journalism from post 2 coming out of the gate. For all of Clever Again’s speed, Ortiz says his Preakness mount will be content to lay off another horse as circumstances require.

“I know he can,” Ortiz said. “He’s done it in the mornings. He’s proven to us that he can. He’s a very professional horse. He’s very laid back. He lets you do your work. And when you’re ready to go, he goes.

“He obviously has speed. If he breaks good, he can clear, and that would be fine,” he added. “If somebody goes crazy (for the lead) against us, better to be on the outside than being on the inside, where they force you to go. It really gives me the opportunity to make a better decision. The main thing is to break good. If he breaks well, I will see where I am and go from there. But it’s very hard to put it together beforehand. Hopefully everybody breaks well. But we have stumbles. You got bumping. My main thing is to break good, grab a good position going into the first turn, and I’ll worry about my horse. Make sure he’s breathing and relaxed. In the second part of the race, I’ll start worrying about the other horses.”

Clever Again stood in the Pimlico starting gate and galloped a mile Friday morning.

Rispoli: Journalism Probably Smartest Horse I Ever Rode

Jockey Umberto Rispoli teed up some high praise after Journalism had his morning exercise Friday at Pimlico Race Course.

Rispoli will be aboard when the 8-5 morning-line favorite faces eight others Saturday in the 150^th Preakness Stakes (G1). It will be the sixth time that Rispoli has ridden Journalism. They are 4-1-0 together. The lone loss was a second by 1 ½ lengths in the Kentucky Derby (G1) May 3.

“As I’ve always said, it’s a very intelligent, smart animal,” Rispoli said. “Probably is the smartest horse I’ve ever rode in my career.”

Journalism, co-owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Bridlewood Farm, Don Alberto Stable, Robert LaPenta, Elayne Stables 5 LLC, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith. Aron Wellman, founder and president of Eclipse Thoroughbreds, is the managing partner of the ownership group.

Rispoli, 36, was born in Italy and started his career there. He rode in France and Hong Kong before relocating to Southern California in December 2019.

“It’s funny, I was talking to Aron and I said, ‘I have to wait 20 years of my career to ride such an intelligent horse like that,’” Rispoli said. “You can see that it’s a very different horse. You don’t see many horses come out of the Kentucky Derby acting in the way he’s acting like. For him, everything is natural, is normal. Hopefully he’s going to carry these qualities even on the Preakness.”

Trainer Michael McCarthy said that Journalism had a routine gallop Friday morning and will walk Saturday morning.

Lightly Raced Goal Oriented Has Foundation for Preakness

It has been well-documented that Goal Oriented, from the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, is short on experience. The son of Not This Time will be making just his third career start in the 150^th running of the $2 million Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course.

Goal Orientated just had his third birthday on Thursday and now takes on eight others in the 1 3/16-mile American Classic.

“He really is just a youngster coming into his own at the right time and we could not be prouder of him,” said SF Racing LLC’s Tom Ryan, the managing partner of the ownership group. “He has handled everything we have thrown at him so far.”

SF owns Goal Oriented along with Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables, Robert E. Masterson, Ryan, Waves Edge Capital LLC and Catherine Donovan.

Goal Oriented, rated fifth at 6-1 on the Preakness morning line, will start from the rail post position.

Goal Oriented had a routine gallop Friday with exercise rider Humberto Gomez on board.

Baffert is not worried about running a horse with little racing experience. He is confident that Goal Oriented and jockey Flavien Prat will make good accounts of themselves.

“My horses, I put a lot of foundation into them before I ever start them,” Baffert said. “We bring them in, work them out of the gate.”

Baffert puts plenty of trust in his assistant Mike Marlow, who works at Los Alamitos, about 35 minutes south of Santa Anita, and Marlow sent word to Baffert that Goal Oriented was turning heads early.

“Mike said he thought this could be a good one, and he’s usually right,” Baffert said.

Goal Oriented began his career with a 3 ¼-length win April 6 at Santa Anita and followed up with a front-running victory by three quarters of a length at Churchill Downs in an allowance optional claimer on the Kentucky Derby (G1) undercard.

Having a horse rise through the ranks quickly is nothing new for Baffert.

“I won a Grade 1 the second start with a horse named American Pharoah and I won the Santa Anita Derby (G1) with a horse in his third start and his name was Justify,” Baffert said. “If they are good enough …”

Baffert certainly wasn’t comparing Goal Oriented to his two Triple Crown winners. But when he has a horse that he thinks fits, he brings them. He has been right plenty of times with his Preakness horses. He has won the race a record eight times.

“He is doing very well,” Baffert said. “He is well mannered. He’s smart. We only bring the smart ones.”