Preakness preview: Icabad Crane
As part of our walk-up to the Preakness, we're going to profile the field that will challenge Kentucky Derby winner and prohibitive favorite Big Brown.
The first colt we'll take a look can be called something of a favorite son candidate, Icabad Crane. Although a New York-bred, Icabad Crane trains at the Fair Hill Training Center -- the northern Maryland facility that was home to Barbaro -- and furthering Icabad Cranes' claim to some local status is that he won the Tesio Stakes at Pimlico last month. And finally, he'll be ridden by Jeremy Rose who was aboard triumphant Afleet Alex for the 2005 Preakness. Icadab Crane has just four lifetime starts -- three as a three-year-old -- with three wins and a third.
In the Tesio Stakes (below), you'll see that Icabad Crane (No. 3) had a bit of a rough start, was back in sixth and then weaved his way through traffic to catch the leader at the wire.
Comments
Another local link. Icabad is trained by Graham Motion who was an assistant to Bernie Bond and took over Bernie's trainees when BB died.
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Kitty,
Thanks for the contribution.
-- Bill O.
Posted by: Kitty Allen | May 12, 2008 3:15 PM
Icabad ran a great race, but the competition wasn't all that formidable. I love the horse, and Rose is one of the few solid jocks left in the Maryland colony, but I don't see Icabad as being in the same class as Big Brown.
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Abbie,
Your view is shared by many ... and the odds will certainly reflect it. But it's a horse race and that's why we'll all show up.
-- Bill O.
Posted by: Abbie Ritter | May 12, 2008 11:58 PM