Silver Charm Heads Preakness Field Ten 3-Year-Olds Enter Second Leg Of Horse Racing’s Triple Crown

Bob Baffert doesn’t expect Silver Charm to duplicate his Kentucky Derby performance.

This does not mean the trainer is conceding the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on Saturday.

“I can’t see him running the same race he did in the Kentucky Derby, but he still will run good because he’s got a lot of class,” Baffert said Wednesday. “He knows how to win.”

Silver Charm was the 4-1 second choice when he beat 3-1 favorite Captain Bodgit by a head in the Derby. He was the early 9-5 favorite to win the Preakness and move to the threshold of becoming the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.

Captain Bodgit was the 2-1 second choice in a field of 10 3-year-olds entered Wednesday for the 1-3/16-mile stakes.

Other Derby starters who will run in the Preakness are Free House, who was third, and Concerto, ninth. Free House is the 9-2 third choice.

Scheduled to make their debuts in Triple Crown competition are Touch Gold, Frisk Me Now, Wild Tempest, Cryp Too and the entry of Hoxie and Jack at the Bank.

“I don’t like to think too far ahead,” Baffert said about the possibility of Silver Charm becoming racing’s 12th Triple Crown champion. “I don’t want to jinx myself. I don’t even know if I’ll go to New York (for the Belmont Stakes on June 7). I’d have to run big or win this race Saturday.”

As for the Preakness, Baffert said: “I think you’ll see those same three horses (Silver Star, Captain Bodgit and Free House) turning for home. Captain Bodgit is the horse to beat, and Free House will be right there.”

Silver Charm, who worked five-eighths of a mile in 1:01 Monday, galloped Wednesday. He drew the No. 7 post and will be ridden by Gary Stevens. House, with Kent Desormeaux, will leave from the No. 4 hole.

Captain Bodgit, the Florida Derby and Wood Memorial winner, worked a half-mile in 48-2/5 seconds Tuesday at nearby Bowie, where he is stabled.

Free House, who is 2-2 in meetings with Silver Charm and who won the Santa Anita Derby, turned in a sizzling workout of 45-3/5 for a half-mile Tuesday with trainer Paco Gonzalez’ brother, Sal, in the saddle. Desormeaux will replace David Flores as the colt’s Preakness jockey.

Concerto, who had a five-race winning streak snapped in the Derby, also will have a new rider, with Mike Smith replacing Carlos Marquez Jr.

Baffert noted Touch Gold and Wild Tempest among the Preakness horses who did not run in the Derby.

Touch Gold, who won one of four starts as a 2-year-old, joined the stable of trainer David Hofmans in January and has won both his starts this year. He was impressive in winning the 1-1/16-mile Lexington on April 20 at Keeneland and got high marks from his jockey, Gary Stevens, who rides Silver Charm. Chris McCarron will ride Touch Gold.

Wild Tempest, trained by Nick Zito, who won the 1996 Preakness with Louis Quatorze, finished fourth in the Wood Memorial on a sloppy track that Zito said the colt couldn’t handle. He then rebounded to beat older horses in a 1-1/16-mile allowance race at Churchill Downs on May 2, the day before the Derby.

Cryp Too finished second, beaten by three-quarters of a length, in the Withers after setting the pace in his stakes debut on a sloppy track May 3 at Aqueduct.

Jack At the Bank finished sixth and Hoxie was 10th in the Wood Memorial. They are owned by Robert Perez.

Graphic: Preakness Stakes