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Tuesday Notebook Impeachment brings Preakness field to eight
Posted: Tuesday May 16, 2000 05:06 PM
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Impeachment, third in the Kentucky Derby, enjoyed a strong workout Tuesday and will join the field for the Preakness. The colt worked a half-mile in 48 seconds at Belmont Park, prompting trainer Todd Pletcher to add his horse to Saturday's race. "He went great and galloped out in 1:00 1-5. Craig Perret will ride him and he'll van down there Thursday," Pletcher said. Impeachment went from 19th to third in the Derby, finishing 5 1/2 lengths behind winner Fusaichi Pegasus. Pletcher expects his horse to take a similar come-from-behind approach in the Preakness. "You couldn't change it if you wanted to," he said. Great comboTrainer D. Wayne Lukas and jockey Pat Day have combined to win two Preakness Stakes, with Tank's Prospect in 1985 and Timber Country in 1995. They'll team up again on High Yield this Saturday. "He's doing very well, excellent," Lukas said of the colt, who finished 15th in the Derby. Day is vying for his sixth Preakness win, which would tie him with Eddie Arcaro for most victories in the race. Lukas is also looking for win No. 6 in the Preakness, which would leave him alone in second place behind R.W. Walden (seven Preakness wins). Hopeful HalHal's Hope, who led in the Kentucky Derby after six furlongs before fading to 16th, expects a different race in the Preakness. "This seems to be the type of track that fits him well," said owner and trainer Harold Rose. "This track is better for a speed horse than Churchill Downs." The colt whisked through the first six furlongs in 1:09 4-5 at the Derby, a pace that all but eliminated any chance of winning. "The pace was more than hot. It was not realistic," Rose said. "There's no way that's happening here. We're not in the race to be in first at the 5-8 pole. That doesn't count." Favorite factsHere's some encouraging news for the seven horses competing against Fusaichi Pegasus: The favorite has been beaten in 62 of 125 Preakness races (the Preakness was run in two divisions in 1918). In each of the past three years, the favorite failed to reach the wire first. Captain Bodgit lost in 1997, as did Victory Gallop in 1998 and Menifee last year. The biggest favorite ever to lose the Preakness was Riva Ridge, who took fourth in 1972 as a 3-10 choice. Looking for rainA soggy day would be lousy for attendance at the Preakness, but the trainer for Hugh Hefner would probably feel like singing in the rain Saturday. "I wouldn't mind if you got rain," trainer Martin Jones said from California. "He's trained super in the mud. ... He loves slop." Las Vegas Sports Consultants has installed Hugh Hefner as the 75-1 long shot in the race. The horse has run poorly in only one of six career starts, when he finished 13th in the 14-horse field in the Breeder's Cup Juvenile last November. "We got there early but never did settle in," said Jones, who planned to ship the California-bred colt to Baltimore on Tuesday night. Looking to reboundSnuck In ran a half-mile in 48 seconds Tuesday at Churchill Downs, leaving trainer Steve Asmussen confident his colt has improved since running second in the Arkansas Derby. "He went very well. We're all set," Asmussen said. "He was a little flat when he ran in the Arkansas Derby but has been training much better. ... I think he's moved forward considerably since then. He'll have to."
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