Oxbow wins Preakness Stakes

Oxbow, a 15-1 longshot ridden masterfully by 50-year-old Hall of Famer Gary Stevens, cruised to an easy, wire-to-wire victory in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, denying a Triple Crown bid for Kentucky Derby champion Orb.

The D. Wayne Lukas-trained bay bolted to the lead under cloudy skies and chilly temperatures at Pimlico and never tired, finishing 1 3/4 lengths ahead of Itsmyluckyday.

Rosie Napravnik guided Mylute to a third-place finish, while Kentucky Derby champion Orb finished fourth, tiring in the stretch and never getting into contention under Joel Rosario.

Oxbow finished sixth in the Derby two weeks ago on a sloppy track at Churchill Downs. On Saturday, Stevens steered clear of traffic in the opening furlong and never looked back.

"He didn't get a lot of respect even after his great performance in the Derby," said Stevens, who came out of retirement last year following a seven-year hiatus.

"We came back and breezed him on Monday and what you see now is exactly how he acted in his workout.

"When I hit the half-mile pole, I said, 'Are you kidding me? Is this happening?'. The race was over at that point. I just walked the dog to the half-mile pole."

Orb, the 3-5 favorite who was riding a five-race winning streak, broke from the inside post in the nine-horse affair and immediately fell back to sixth. Rosario was in striking position in the stretch despite sitting in sixth but his colt never fired.

"I'm disappointed," said Orb's trainer, Shug McGaughey. "It was a great opportunity. We were 3-5 and finished fourth. This was quite a run for a couple of weeks.

"We'll pack it up and go back home (to New York) and see what kind of horse we've got down the road and figure it out from there."

(China Daily 05/20/2013 page24)