NEWS
Terrain gallops to less fanfare than fellow arrivals
Posted: Thursday, May 14, 2009 11:31 AM
TERRAIN
Four Footed Fotos
by Ed DeRosa
Standing outside the Pimlico Race Course stakes barn on Thursday morning, Al Stall reflected on what he viewed as a positive 24 hours for Terrain, the Sky Mesa colt he trains for breeder Adele Dilschneider.
Terrain shipped to Pimlico from Churchill Downs on Wednesday along with Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner and Preakness Stakes (G1) morning-line favorite Rachel Alexandra and Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) runner-up Pioneerof the Nile but gained only a fraction of the attention as those two.
Shortly after arriving, Terrain was assigned the sixth post position for the Preakness in a field of 13 with likely pace horses Big Drama and Rachel Alexandra on the rail and outside, respectively. Then on Thursday, he galloped two miles after the renovation break.
“If you had put 13 blank spaces on a board, I think I’d have put those two [Big Drama and Rachel Alexandra] in one and 13 and me in the middle,” Stall said.
Terrain, the winner of the Arlington-Washington Futurity (G3) on September 13 at Arlington Park, enters the Preakness off a fourth-place finish in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1). He is winless in four starts on synthetic surfaces but has won two of three starts on dirt tracks rated as fast.
“The most important thing for him is that he’s back on his preferred surface,” Stall said. “We’re hoping he just gets into the bridle and is ready to rock. He’s fresh. He’ll show up; where that puts him, we’ll see.”
Stall plans to give a leg up to Jeremy Rose in the Preakness. Rose won the 2005 edition of the classic aboard eventual three-year-old male Afleet Alex. Terrain’s previous riders, Jamie Theriot and Julien Leparoux, have other mounts in this year’s Preakness.
“Like any degenerate, I watch the races all day across the country, and I know he’s a good rider who knows how to win,” Stall said. “[Trainer H. Graham] Motion rides him, and that’s good enough for me. I guarantee he’ll have some horse left in the final quarter [mile].”
Ed DeRosa is news editor of THOROUGHBRED TIMES
