By Richard Rosenblatt
Let’s forget about Bob Baffert and Medina Spirit for a while and salute longshot Rombauer after he came rolling through the stretch and won the 146th Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday.
In one of the strangest buildups to a Triple Crown race – Medina Spirit won the Kentucky Derby (G1) two weeks ago, but a post-race positive drug test could get him disqualified – it was 11-1 Rombauer who stole show before about 10,000 fans.
As expected, Medina Spirit, the 2-1 favorite, and Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez moved to the front after breaking from post 3, with 3- 1 second choice Midnight Bourbon in pursuit and Baffert’s other entry, Concert Tour, racing just behind them.
But as the field rounded the final turn, it was a lurking Rombauer ($25.60) and jockey Flavien Prat who hit their best stride and barreled past the fading favorites to hit the wire in 1:52.62 for the 1 3/16-mile second leg of the Triple Crown.
“Coming to the quarter pole, I started getting excited,’’ said trainer Michael McCarthy, a former assistant to newly minted Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher. “I’m so proud of this horse. It just goes to show you that small players in this game can be successful.
“This means the world to me,” he added.
Rombauer #6 with Flavien Prat won the $1,000,000 Grade I Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Racecourse on Saturday May 15, 2021. Photo Courtesy of Bill Denver/MJC
What a day for the trainer and jockey in their first Preakness. Prat rode Country House to a second-place finish in the 2019 Kentucky Derby behind Maximum Security but the first-place finisher was DQ’d, and Prat had his first Derby victory. This time, he was on the first-place finisher.
“It’s a lot different when you cross the wire first. You get that feeling where it’s a lot of joy,’’ said Prat. “It was a lot different, as you say, in the Derby, but I’m really proud of both races anyway.”
Rombauer, winner of the El Camino Real Derby in February that was worth a fees-paid berth in the $1 million Preakness, was a bit rambunctious before the race, and Prat thanked the groom and pony girl for calming him down.
“We broke well. Never intended to rush him. Naturally down the backside he was traveling well and was passing horses one by one,’’ said Prat. “ So I was pretty confident going to the three-eighths pole, and then I was behind some of the favorites in the race, and I was traveling well, and I thought, well, maybe if he switched it and gave me a good kick, I might be able to run them down.”
And that’s what happened.
While Baffert was back home in California to avoid being a “distraction” at Pimlico, his assistant Jimmy Barnes handled Medina Spirt and Concert Tour. He said both were in top form, but neither could match the closing rush of Rombauer.
Midnight Bourbon, sixth in the Derby, finished second under Irad Ortiz, Jr., with Medina Spirit third, and Keepmeinmind fourth. Crowded Trade was fifth, followed by Unbridled Honor, France Go de Ina, Risk Taking, Concert Tour, and Ram.
The Belmont Stakes (G1) is June 5, but before the final leg of the Triple Crown, a decision awaits on whether Medina Spirit will be DQ’d from his Derby win (a second test sample is pending). If so, Derby runner-up Mandaloun would be declared the winner.
Rombauer, who was third in the Blue Grass (G2), was kept out of the Derby by owners John and Diane Fradkin, even though McCarthy was gung-ho on entering.
“I would have liked to have run the horse in the Kentucky Derby,’’ said McCarthy. “John made some valid points. As I had said to him earlier, we probably would have done the same thing two weeks earlier, but I’m glad we got it done today.”
John Fradkin said: “I think there’s going to be some clash at times because I come at it from a total handicapping angle, and I’m not a horseman, as you could tell when I walked that horse to the Winner’s Circle, didn’t know what I was doing.
“And Michael is the consummate horseman. He’s focused on the horses and getting them to be their best. Where we disagree is usually just a handicapping thing.”
Over the years while working at The Associated Press, Rich Rosenblatt became a familiar name to legions of the horse racing fans and industry insiders with his award-winning articles on horse racing and his stories from the backstretch.
In addition to being an astute observer of sports, Rosenblatt is the co-author of The All-American Chili Cookbook. His work has been seen in just about every publication in the world, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and Time Magazine.
