He’s Now a Perfect Target

BALTIMORE — Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro finally arrived at Pimlico Race Course at 2:35 Friday afternoon, looking calm but a bit curious about the 60 or so television cameramen and photographers whose equipment clicked and whirred as Barbaro’s groom led him to his stall.

His home until the 131st running of the Preakness Stakes today at 3:10 PDT will be Stall 40 in the stakes barn, where a yellow plaque painted with Black-Eyed Susans notes the Preakness winners that have stayed there.

Smarty Jones was the last, in 2004. But the eye wanders to those with the asterisk: Secretariat in 1973, Seattle Slew in 1977, Affirmed in 1978, all Triple Crown winners.

Ever since Barbaro crossed the finish line to win the Kentucky Derby by 6 1/2 lengths two weeks ago, despite barely feeling the whip of rider Edgar Prado, the talk has been that this could be the first Triple Crown winner in 28 years.

There has been that kind of talk before.

Six times in the last nine years, the Kentucky Derby winner has gone on to win the Preakness but failed to win the Belmont.

Barbaro, many believe, will be different.

That conviction is based on the way he won the Derby, running away from the field with a final quarter-mile of 24.34 seconds, the fastest stretch run by the winner since Secretariat’s in 1973.

His margin was the largest in 60 years, and only four horses have won the Derby by more. The last two -- Assault in 1946 and Whirlaway in 1941 -- won the Triple Crown.

Anointing Barbaro as the next Triple Crown winner even before he has run in the Preakness became so commonplace that by this week, people were looking for reasons to knock him.

“He’s undefeated and won the Derby by 6 1/2 lengths and closed in 24 and change. What’s there to knock?” asked Dan Hendricks, the trainer of Brother Derek, the 3-1 second choice behind Barbaro, an even-money favorite on the morning line.

“Chink in the armor?” asked Nick Zito, trainer of 30-1 shot Hemingway’s Key. “I never heard of a chink in the armor of an undefeated horse.

“Until he gets beat, he’s going to get a lot of hype. He’s worthy of it right now.”

Like everyone else, jockeys have seen this before.

“Fusaichi Pegasus was supposed to win the Triple Crown and, of course, it didn’t turn out that way. Or a horse like Smarty Jones,” said Alex Solis, fourth in the Derby on Brother Derek after a difficult trip.

Retired jockey Jerry Bailey is high on Barbaro, but he stopped short of former jockey Gary Stevens’ gush that Barbaro is “another Secretariat-type animal.”

“I’ve seen, too many times, horses that have come in here looking unbeatable and have been defeated,” Bailey said, though he added that Barbaro had a combination of versatile speed and stamina that is “virtually unbeatable” if he gets a good trip.

“I think something strange has to happen. It’s got to be a stumble at the break, or he gets caught off guard and misses the break by half a length,” Bailey said.

“I think if everybody breaks equally, they’re going to have a hard time taking an advantage away from him.”

Brother Derek and Sweetnorthernsaint -- the third choice at 4-1 -- are the only Derby horses whose connections decided to take on Barbaro again, this time in a mere nine-horse field for the 1 3/16 -mile race.

The most intriguing new starters are 8-1 Bernardini, a lightly raced but well-bred son of A.P. Indy, and Like Now, who at 12-1 is predicted to sprint to the early lead and then tire.

Brother Derek and Sweetnorthernsaint are back because their handlers think they can do better than they did after their Derby troubles. Brother Derek lost a shoe and had a wide trip from his No. 18 post in a 20-horse field, and Sweetnorthernsaint was bumped at the start and later steadied, then closed to fourth at the top of the stretch before fading to seventh.

Michael Trombetta, the Baltimore-born trainer of Sweetnorthernsaint, and Hendricks, Brother Derek’s trainer, have said all week they simply hope for a clean trip and another shot at Barbaro.

“He’s the target,” Hendricks said.

Barbaro’s trainer, former Olympic equestrian Michael Matz, kept his horse at Fair Hill Training Center, about 60 miles away in Elkton, Md., this week, far from the hubbub of Pimlico.

He has taken some unorthodox routes with Barbaro, going eight and five weeks between races before the Derby.

Now the question is whether he comes in with a fresh horse or one that will have trouble racing again on only two weeks’ rest.

“We don’t know,” Matz said. “We didn’t know how the horses would handle the 20-horse field, and now we don’t know how they’ll be after only two weeks.”

Like questions about whether Barbaro will have a shot at the Triple Crown, those will be answered today.

Some believe that because of Barbaro’s breeding -- he is a son of Dynaformer, a sire known for stamina -- today’s Preakness, not the 1 1/2 -mile Belmont that usually undoes Triple Crown bids, will be the crucial race for Barbaro.

“If he can get past the Preakness -- and that’s always uncharted waters -- but if he gets by that, you have to love him in the Belmont with that pedigree,” said Wayne Lukas, who was Dynaformer’s trainer.

Bailey agreed.

“I actually think the next one will be easy, if he gets this one,” he said.

As Matz likes to say, may the best horse win.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

The Preakness

The field for the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore today. It is the 12th race of the card, with an approximate post time of 3:10 p.m. PDT. Coverage begins at

2 p.m., Channel 4.

*--* PP HORSE M/L 1. Like Now 12-1 2. Platinum Couple 50-1 3. Hemingway’s Key 30-1 4. Greeley’s Legacy 20-1 5. Brother Derek 3-1 6. Barbaro 1-1 7. Sweetnorthernsaint 4-1 8. Bernardini 8-1 9. Diabolical 30-1

*--*