With the 2012 Preakness Stakes Saturday, May 19, it's time to break down a couple of the long shots that will be contenders in the 137th annual race. Betting a long-shot horse at a Triple Crown race is always fun, exciting and sometimes quite lucrative. Pimlico Race Track is a place with a history of horses that no one is respecting coming through and winning. Optimizer and Cozzetti are two such longshots and will take a look at them below.
Optimizer (30-1)-- Record: 1-2-1 in 10 Races...Trainer: D. Wayne Lukas ... Jockey: Corey Nakatani... Sire: English Channel... This son of grass champion English Channel has ? ashed signs of big-time ability. He rallied furiously to ?nish second in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn March 17. Last year as a 2-year-old he rallied for third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland. The winner of that race, Dullahan, just ran third in the Kentucky Derby. 0Those two big aforementioned performances were nice, yes, but they’ve also been the exception and not the rule. After his Breeders’ Futurity run he was no factor in his next ?ve starts. Then came the Rebel but after that he was a dismal ninth in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby and 11th in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby. The average winning Beyer Speed Figure for the Preakness over the last 20 years is about 108. Even with I’ll Have Another posting a subpar ?gure for his Kentucky Derby victory (101), this runner still has yet to register a triple-digit Beyer, meaning in order to win this he’ll have to do something he’s never done before. Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas was nestled on a corner bench in front of the stakes barn at Pimlico Race Course, thinking back to a time when he was nothing more than a young man trying to make a living in the horse racing game. Codex won in 1980, the first time Lukas ever saddled up a Preakness horse. He next won in 1985 with Tank's Prospect, and although his memory is perhaps a bit shaky regarding the timing of each victory, the 76-year-old Lukas knows darn well he's won the Preakness five times. He hasn't been in the Preakness winner's circle since 1999 with Charismatic, and he has a decided long shot in Optimizer on Saturday. But it would be foolish to dismiss his chances. Optimizer has tons of stamina in his pedigree and shouldn’t have a problem with the distance. His sire was a grass horse, however, and Optimizer may be a bit more effective on turf and synthetic surfaces.
Cozzetti (30-1)-- Record: 1-0-1 in 7 Races...Trainer: Dale L. Romans ... Jockey: Jose Lezcano... Sire: Cozzene... Albaugh Family Stable's Cozzetti went out after the renovation break and galloped 1 1/2 miles under exercise rider Mary Doser Thursday morning at Pimlico Race Course. The gray colt flew in from Louisville on Wednesday. Still looking for his first victory as a three-year-old, Cozzetti will attempt to make Romans the first trainer to score back-to-back victories in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown since Bob Baffert accomplished the feat in 2001-02 with Point Given and War Emblem, respectively. Turning a 3-year-old around two weeks after a demanding 10-furlong race is not exactly the ideal preparation. A fresh horse like Cozzetti, who hasn’t started since the Arkansas Derby, is likely to be at an advantage over the horses exiting the Kentucky Derby. Cozzetti has made only three starts on dirt, with a ?rst, a third, and a fourth. He is not entirely exposed on the surface and might – might – have a chance to do more. on the downside. The colt is eligible for a ? rst-level allowance and hasn’t so much as ?nished even second outside his maiden win last fall at Churchill. And while he ran all right when fourth in the Arkansas Derby, the only horse really running in that race was Bodemeister, though ?fth-place Arkansas Derby ?nisher Atigun fared well in winning a second-level allowance race to kick off the Kentucky Derby program. To be blunt, however, it looks very much at this point like he is not good enough to be a major Preakness player unless four or ?ve of his rivals fail to show something close to their best. Cozzetti receives stamina from both sides of his pedigree and is an excellent candidate to stay the Preakness trip.
The 137th Preakness is scheduled to take place on May 19, 2012 at Pimlico in Baltimore, Maryland. Preakness Stakes Post Time: 6:18pm EDT. Television: 4:30-6:45 on NBC. Location: Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. Type: Thoroughbred. Track: Dirt, Left-handed. Purse: $1 million Distance: 1 3/16 miles (9.5 furlongs). Qualification: 3-year old. Weight: 126 pounds (Colt/Gelding) / 121 pounds (Filly). Expected Weather Conditions: 77 degrees and sunny (click for updated Preakness weather). Pimlico Track Conditions: Fast. Turf Condition: Firm.
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2012 Preakness Stakes Race - Free Handicapping Best Bets
Pregame.com Pro Marco D'Angelo and Dave Tuley from the Daily Racing Form discuss their best bets in the 2012 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico - including odds, post postions, handicapping tips, favorites, and long shots!