Cloud Computing, 13-1, butts in on dueling colts

BALTIMORE -- This was supposed to be a duel between the Kentucky Derby winner, Always Dreaming, and Classic Empire, a hard-luck colt that most believed was the best 3-year-old horse in the country. And it was a duel, a heart-pounding one, as the two of them glided down the backstretch side by side.

For three-quarters of a mile, John Velazquez kept Always Dreaming's head in front of his rival. He hovered like a hummingbird, seemingly waiting for the right moment to burst into flight.

Julien Leparoux, aboard Classic Empire, was not willing to wait. Instead, he gunned his colt around the far turn, squared his shoulders into the stretch and galloped his horse down the rail as if he were a sure thing.

It was not until the last sixteenth of a mile that Leparoux realized he had company. He heard Javier Castellano smooching to his colt, a 13-1 long shot named Cloud Computing. With every kiss Castellano blew into his horse's ear, Cloud Computing extended his stride.

This was not the duel anyone expected. For the last 50 yards, Cloud Computing and Classic Empire shadowed each other -- they went nose to nose almost until they hit the wire. In the end, Cloud Computing won the duel and the 142nd running of the Preakness Stakes.

It was the first Triple Crown victory for Cloud Computing's trainer, Chad Brown, and the second for Castellano, who won the Preakness in 2006 aboard Bernardini.

"Certainly I'm not going to dispute the fact that I brought in a fresh horse as part of our strategy," Brown said. "Our horse is very talented, too. Classic Empire and Always Dreaming are two outstanding horses, and our strategy was, if we are ever going to beat them let's take them on two weeks' rest when we have six (weeks), and it worked."

Cloud Computing's victory ensure that there will be no Triple Crown this year, rendering next month's Belmont Stakes a race that has lost its potentially historic dimensions. Cloud Computing paid $28.80 for a $2 bet after completing the mile and three-sixteenths at Pimlico Race Course in 1:55.98. Always Dreaming, the prohibitive 6-5 favorite, finished a well-beaten eighth.

We didn't have an excuse," said Todd Pletcher, who trains Always Dreaming. "We were in a position we expected to be, and I think the turnaround was a little too quick. He ran so hard in the Derby and today just wasn't his day."

Always Dreaming lost for the first time in five races this year. He'd won his first four by a combined 23¼ lengths.

Classic Empire and Julien Leparoux went into the stretch with 3-length lead, seemingly on his way to the winner's circle.

At that point, trainer Mark Casse thought he was headed there, too.

"Of course," he said. "But I thought I was going to win a lot of times before, so it doesn't shock me."

Casse, had been eager for this race after the Derby, where everything that could have gone wrong did. In the Derby, Classic Empire was slammed by McCraken at the start and pinballed among horses as they headed for the first turn.

Classic Empire is a colt who likes to run near the front, taking aim at the early leaders in the Derby. Instead, Leparoux had little choice but to concede a big lead to the front-runners while he maneuvered Classic Empire through traffic. When he launched a drive on the outside in the stretch, Always Dreaming was already in command. Being knocked off stride, having mud kicked in his face and taking a wide run compromised Classic Empire's chances, but he still finished fourth.

Classic Empire won four of five of his races last year and was named the 2-year-old champion. His pedigree is impeccable: His father, Pioneerof the Nile, also sired American Pharoah, the 2015 Triple Crown champion.

As a 3-year-old, however, Classic Empire has not had the same success. After finishing a disappointing third in the Holy Bull in early February, he developed hoof problems as well as a disdain for training. This winter, after Classic Empire refused to train in the morning, Casse sent him to Ocala, Florida, to a training center away from the racetrack to freshen him up.

Always Dreaming, however, was a late-bloomer. He had won four straight races, and there were high hopes he could win here and transform the Belmont Stakes into a race where immortality would be at stake. For 37 years, from Affirmed's 1978 Triple Crown sweep to American Pharoah's in 2015, no horse could grab the sport's greatest prize, although 13 went to the Belmont with a chance.

In Kentucky, Always Dreaming had a perfect, front-running trip on a rain-soaked course that bedeviled many of his rivals, especially Classic Empire. The trainer of Always Dreaming, Todd Pletcher, worried whether his colt could win on just two weeks' rest. Pletcher is a seven-time champion trainer whose horses have earned $339 million. He runs a multibranch stable that studies an array of speed, trip and pace numbers.

Pletcher is as good a sabermetrician as he is a horseman, and he had run only eight horses here previously, because he prefers giving them a five-week break between races. He usually takes his Derby contenders back to his base in New York, skipping the Preakness and training until the Belmont.

He has won two Derbys and two Belmonts, but he is still looking for his first Preakness victory.

Cloud Computing became the first horse to skip the Derby and win the second leg of the Triple Crown since filly Rachel Alexandra in 2009.

"Some of the reason that we won today was because we were patient and didn't throw an inexperienced horse against a 20-horse field in the Derby on a very difficult track," winning co-owner Seth Klarman said. "We made a great call."

Information for this article contributed by New York Times News Service and The Associated Press.

Sports on 05/21/2017