Preakness Stakes

AFLEET ALEX WINS DRAMATIC PREAKNESS STAKES

Historic Pimlico, blessed with ideal weather and a record crowd of 115,318 today hosted a tremendously thrilling edition of the 130th running of the $1,000,000 Grade I Preakness Stakes as post time favorite Afleet Alex overcame near disaster to win the second leg of the Triple Crown.

"He was just that athletic and I was just that scared", said jockey Jeremy Rose as he galloped back to the winners' circle aboard the Northern Afleet colt, who is owned by Cash Is King LLC and trained by Tim Ritchey.

The record crowd surpassed last year's total of 112,668. Another 10,369 enjoyed the race at Laurel Park. Total for both sites was 125,687, another record.

The handle on today's card reached $85,251,004. The $58,028,728 wagered on the Preakness itself does not include the separate pool. Maryland Jockey Club officials anticipate that number to be around $2.5 million. Over $11 million was bet in-state for the first time ever on Preakness day.

Afleet Alex came flying around the far turn with dead aim on the leader when he was suddenly blocked. Scrappy T, racing in front of him entering the lane, suddenly bore out in response to left-handed whipping by jockey Ramon Dominguez. In a flash Afleet Alex stumbled, buckled to his knees and almost unseated jockey Rose. The agile colt and his 26-year-old pilot quickly recovered their balance, dove inside Scrappy T and charged to a widening 4-3/4 length victory. Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo rallied to take third and Sun King finished fourth.

The winner paid $8.60. He topped a $152.60 exacta, a $872 triple and a $10,362.30 superfecta.

TIM RITCHEY: -- athletic enough to overcome clipping heels and almost going down still get up and win the race. It was an amazing performance.

Speaking of Jeremy Rose, there was some controversy early in the spring. He might get taken off, John Velasquez was named the he official rider, he bailed out. Jeremy was back on. Can you talk about the ultimate decision to stick with Jeremy Rose and the dividend it clearly paid out there today?

TIM RITCHEY. Jeremy has absolute, complete confidence in this horse. He thinks this horse is from the planet Crypton. He thinks he's a super horse.

After John had to ride Bandini and the ride that Jeremy put up in the Arkansas Derby, I don't care what you heard and read, it was an unanimous decision from that time on. The next day that Jeremy would ride this horse the rest of his career.

THE MODERATOR: Tim, next question. The one question about Afleet Alex, through the spring was his ability, based on pedigree, to handle a distance. He indicated to distance was not an issue given that. Assuming the horse comes out of it okay, what are your plans regarding the Belmont Stakes?

JEREMY ROSE: I think he'll go a mile and a half without a problem. I always have. Ever since I had him as a two-year-old in the Breeder's cup. It wasn't to be.

So as long as he comes out of the race, we've got three weeks to prepare him for the Belmont. My plans at this point are to go forward to the Belmont:

THE MODERATOR: What does this race say about Alex's heart and his ability to jump back up in the face of adversity?

THE MODERATOR: It didn't involve your horse, I'm going to ask you anyway: Has it dawned on you yet, had Jeremy not held his seat aboard the horse, that Giacomo would have moved up?

JEREMY ROSE: No, it didn't. I didn't realize that I was watching my horse. The whole race I don't even know who ended up second or third. He started to run. My eyes were on him and past the wire, my eyes were on him to make sure he was okay. That's the main thing. Health of the horse.

TIM RITCHEY: No, I said before, hopefully Belmont day, I would move for every racetrack to have a lemonade stand on Belmont day throughout the entire United States and give a dollar to the lemonade stand or their local Juvenile Cancer fund. Because it's a great cause. And, like I said earlier, everybody who was fortunate enough to bet on this horse, makes a little money, just take $1, donate it to Alex's lemonade stand or Local Juvenile Cancer Fund, and maybe we can make the world a better place.

THE MODERATOR: As a Maryland native, what does it mean to you, winning the Preakness?

TIM RITCHEY: Absolutely tremendous. Maryland's biggest race. I lived in Maryland since 1992. It's tremendous to win a race in the state you reside it, and the biggest race in Maryland.

THE MODERATOR: How often do you see a horse stumble like that, and have the wherewithal to come back and pass a horse to go on and win?

TIM RITCHEY: Truthfully, I've seen horses take bad steps in races and win. I never see horses stumble that badly and lose his momentum that much and come back on and win in a grade one race like this, that's the first I've ever seen it.

THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by two of the owners of the Cash Is King stable, Joe Lerro and Chuck Zacney, also, with no disrespect to the owners or the trainer, but the guy who has to be considered the man of the hour right now, Jeremy Rose.

Jeremy, obviously, that was perhaps one of the most outstanding displays of athleticism aboard a horse in a Triple Crown event, if not in all of racing.

Rather than me ask you a question, can you just describe the trip, not just at the end, but early on leading up to the incident?

JEREMY ROSE: Around the first turn I tried to get down, on the backside I was about two or three wide, saw a horse trying to make a move to get past on the outside, so I got back in. It was a really well executed trip by Alex for the most part. I just kind of followed his lead. It wasn't so much my athleticism, as it was Alex. He could have very easily went down and he we could have been run over by the field.

THE MODERATOR: If you could split it down the middle, or give us a percentage to some degree, your ability to stay aboard to keep your seat, how much of that was your strength and balance as a rider, and how much of that was Afleet Alex's athleticism as a horse?

JEREMY ROSE: I'm going to say 90 percent horse. Because if he goes down, I don't have any chance. Mostly was scared. I hung on. When he clipped, his nose was a little dirty after that.

JEREMY ROSE: When I clipped heels, yeah. I mean, I had enough time to think about hitting the ground, and he popped up back in. I held off on what I had. He came up back underneath me.

THE MODERATOR: Was there any thought process on your part what it was happening or was it all instinct?

JEREMY ROSE: Yeah, I the thought process was I was going to get run over. The instinct was to hang on and try to get my balance back.

THE MODERATOR: If we could just -- we obviously have a jubilant crew around us. If you could keep your voices down a little bit so everybody can hear the answers.

I want to ask Chuck Zacney, Joe Lerro, Joseph Judge. I asked Tim Ritchey a moment ago, Afleet Alex was in the midst of making an absolutely explosive move around the turn, shot out the proverbial cannon. You had to think this race was all us. And you had to see it crumbling down to pieces all at once. Can you describe your range of motion in that five-second span where you went from seeing your horse in the winner circle to maybe seeing a jockey on the ground?

CHUCK ZACNEY: I'll tell you what, nerves, nerves, nerves, nerves. I see him clear and soon as he took the rail, I knew he was going to fire. I seen the other horse move out. I went oh, my God. Oh, no. Then he recovered.

CHUCK ZACNEY: Tim and I were actually next to each other, we're talking and we're cheering the horse on. Alex made the big move. Top of the stretch, the five horse started to drift over, Tim and I are saying oh, no, no.

THE MODERATOR: Jeremy, you're obviously pleased to have won your first Triple Crown race in your career, but beyond that, do you feel any pleasure, vindication, given some of the controversy? You know, at first John Velasquez was going to ride the horse in the spring. Through happenstance, you got back on.

Do you feel a personal pleasure of vindication? No disrespect to the decision makers, your abilities as a jockey was proven out today.

JEREMY ROSE: No, not really. I think the most vindication was for Alex. If anybody knocks him now, says anything, sorry.

JEREMY ROSE: Looked a lot worse than it felt. It was a quick thing to happen. I didn't know how close we got. We may have to go blow out Alex's nose when we get back.

JEREMY ROSE: I haven't got a chance to talk to Ramon yet. Trust me, he didn't do it on purpose. I saw him hit his horse left handed, looked like it might have been the first time the horse might have been hit left-handed. He just jumped out from under him. You can't stop that.

THE MODERATOR: Question to Jeremy is to talk about Alex's heart, same question asked him earlier and what it means to just to be able to do what he did out there today.

JEREMY ROSE: It was -- I think he was probably a little scared to hit the ground. Definitely athleticism. He's an amazing horse. No horse I've ever seen in any race stumbled like that. And I don't know any horse stayed up after going that close to the ground. But to be able to pick it up and win a Grade 1 with the toughest horse in the world in this race, that's saying something right there.

THE MODERATOR: I don't know what the final margin of victory was, I know you don't have rear-view mirrors in the saddle, but can you make a guess what you would have won by if not for the incident?

JEREMY ROSE: I'd say double whatever we did win by, we probably won by four or five. It probably should have been 10. We were rolling. We were going real fast.

The fact that Delaware Park was one, two in this race. What does that say about the mid-Atlantic or Delaware racing contingent?

JEREMY ROSE: Obviously, getting better. The whole northeast coast is getting better. Last year it was Smarty Jones that came in and did this. Finished one, two years here. It was great for here Delaware, Maryland, we're starting to get the good horses.

THE MODERATOR: Can you talk about what the significance of a victory at this point in your career, as opposed to when you were a younger man?

TIM RITCHEY: I've been a trainer over 30 years, so you put your time in at the small tracks, you finally get an opportunity to find a horse of this ability, believe me, it's the horse. Horses make trainers, trainers don't make horses. I don't care who tells you what. He's the star. And I was just fortunate enough to come across this horse and, you know, it's a little sweeter, probably the fact that it took me 30 years to get here, and I've done it through a lot of cheap races, cheaper horses, a lot of hard times.

CHUCK ZACNEY: If you told us after the second race we would be here, here we are?

Realistically, no. I mean, what a ride. Less than a year to the Breeder's Cup. Churchill Downs, now the Preakness. Unbelievable. You know, what a dream come true. And that's the one thing we realize how lucky we were and we're very, very thankful, and I got to tell you one thing. We've got to thank all those little angels, boys and girls out there. We have been getting so many cards, emails, we have so much support, thank you very much.

JEREMY ROSE: There was quite a bit of contact. Bumping is not a big deal. Clipping is a huge deal in racing. Usually, oh, yeah, we clipped heels. We clipped probably his right heal with our left front. That's one of the worst things that can happen in racing, clipping heels.

THE MODERATOR: You're experienced, but you're not that old. Have you ever had an experience in a race similar to this before?

JEREMY ROSE: No. Not like this. I've kind of clipped heels where the horse stumbles a little bit. But I mean, he was not 8 inches from going down. That's the closest I've ever been without hitting the ground.

JEREMY ROSE: I thought for sure we were going down. I was going to try to go down with him as close I could, because I figured that was my best shot getting away. Luckily, he came right back up underneath me.

THE MODERATOR: You are described as a credit to Afleet Alex, 90 percent of it for staying up; however, you are an accomplished wrestler. You're an athlete, how much of that background was a plus in what you had to do out there today?

JEREMY ROSE: I'm sure it was a plus. You know, I have relatively good balance and fear makes you very, very strong. And I was willing to hang on.

Question is: Did you give any advice to the owners going into this race and/or the jockey going in ahead of time?

TIM RITCHEY: I just told them to enjoy the experience, enjoy where we are, be grateful. We're here, you know, and we've done our job. I did my job as a trainer. I thought Alex was ready to run a very good race. We have faith in Jeremy, obviously, because he has absolute confidence in this horse. You know, and enjoy yourself, win, lose or draw. This is a life-changing experience, even more so since we've won; but you may never get here again, even if you. Like the Derby, may never get here again. We were third, got beat a length, give credit to the winner; but enjoy the experience.

TIM RITCHEY: I agree. My long-range plan when we first started this was to get through the Triple Crown races as strong, as healthy, and as fit as we possibly could, and you know, I wanted him to have so many miles underneath him that he could go through these races, and do things like he just did. Fitness, you know, I mean, that makes a big difference. So you know and that was the goal to get to the Belmont.

THE MODERATOR: Tim, I don't want to read more into the victory than is already there. However, I know you're good friends with John Servis. In fact, you did your part to nurse Rockport Harbor through setbacks earlier in two years. When Rockport Harbor looked like one of your main foes in the spring, is there any sense whatsoever he had gone to the Belmont?

The Belmont Stakes was what we proved to be the stumbling block for Smarty Jones, a victory there would be all the sweeter. In some hallway, Smarty Jones lost last year.

TIM RITCHEY: Absolutely, I thought Smarty Jones was absolutely the best horse in the Belmont. It was the way the race was ridden, the way the race was set up, and it was a shame that he didn't win it. We don't have that opportunity, because we, unfortunately, didn't win the Derby. You know what? We've got to plan our plan and, you know, if John gets some satisfaction out of the fact, if we can get the job done, then that's great.

THE MODERATOR: What did you physically do, Jeremy, to stay on the horse during that?

JEREMY ROSE: I had -- when I threw my cross thrust to go back past him, I held the mane. I think that helped out quit a bit. It gave me something to hold on, squeeze my butt together pretty much.

THE MODERATOR: Question for Jeremy or Tim. There was not a rabbit, per se, in the Preakness; however, the fractions were plenty honest. 23 flat, 46 flat. Tim, what were your thoughts as you saw the early fractions being posted? And Jeremy, did you have a sense that the pace was rapid as you were in the early stages of the race?

JEREMY ROSE: The first part I looked up, the horses weren't really running away from me in the early 16th of a mile. I thought they were trying to slow it down. Quick as I said that, three of them shot out of there.

I said, I'll sit here and see what happens, and see what kind of pace by that backside, I was 8 to 10 out of it. I knew they had to be going a pretty decent pace. He was extremely relaxed, even if they keep going a little bit. I think I've got a good chance to make up the ground on them.

TIM RITCHEY: When I first watched the race, and I saw the 23 and I saw where Jeremy was, I thought we were in perfect shape, you know, Jeremy when he first started riding he really had to learn how to judge pace and he has come a long way in a quick time, because he did an outstanding job judging where he needed to be.

THE MODERATOR: Tim, I don't want to put Jeremy on the spot with this, but in your career, not as trainer per se, but as a racing fan, have you ever seen a jockey more responsible for victory?

TIM RITCHEY: Well, he did a great job, there's no doubt about it. A lot of things could have happened when that horse stumbled. He could have easily fell off. It was his athletic ability and Alex's athletic ability, it was a partnership, truthfully.

THE MODERATOR: Chuck, how did you get your group Cash Is King stable to purchase this horse for 75,000.

CHUCK ZACNEY: It actually myself and four friends. I was looking to put a group together. Obviously we needed a love for horse racing and needed to be risk takers at the same time. And it all came together when we chose Tim as a trainer. Once again thank you, Tim.

CHUCK ZACNEY: Bob, and I owned horses together in Louisiana for a couple of years, the other three, Jan, Joe and Joe, this is their first experience, so I think they're having a little bit of fun.

JAN REEVES: I just can't believe it. Obviously I'm very emotional. I'm so proud of Tim and Afleet Alex and Jeremy. We're a big family. Words can't explain how I feel, I'm so thankful.

JOE JUDGE: Each time I think it's getting good, it just gets better. So we've been riding for a long time. The support of everybody out there for Alex is unbelievable. The credit really goes to Tim, Jeremy and Alex. What can I say?

THE MODERATOR: Question from down here for Tim or Chuck or Joe Judge. Is it a safe bet that you guys will be present at Timonium this week for the Afleet Alex --

JEREMY ROSE: I knew when we didn't go down that, he still picked it up right where he left off. He missed about half a stride. But he didn't slow up much. I knew if somebody was coming real hard maybe they could get me for that quick lapse in time, but I didn't think they could catch me.

JEREMY ROSE: Absolutely fine. I asked Tim when we walked back to the Winner's Circle the first time just to look at his legs make sure nothing was wrong. He feels great. He may be a little sored up tomorrow, any time you clip heels like that, you're going to have some repercussion in the body. I didn't see any cuts. Tim didn't see any cuts. I think he'll be just fine.

THE MODERATOR: I want to alert the media that Tim Ritchey has graciously agreed to meet with the media tomorrow at 9:00 a.m any of you who want to have follow up questions tomorrow or couldn't make it down here, Tim will be available here at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow at Pimlico and while I'm sure it's not last call for the Cash Is King Stable, who, as I mentioned, should be called the Fun is King Stable, it is somewhat the last call for questions, so I'm going to ask the media to raise their hands if they want to ask anything further of the complete Alex team.

CHUCK ZACNEY: That's actually a name I always like to entertain, I thought it to be a great name for a horse partnership. No rhyme or reason.

TIM RITCHEY: Unfortunately, most of the horses went down like that. So, I mean, when they're going -- and actually they're going faster than they are over fences when they're running on the flat. So it's split, absolute split-second timing and you know and Jeremy and Alex somebody else up there was with us.

JEREMY ROSE: I talked to him quit a bit. I told him he did it. He got his respect and he deserved it. I was hoping he was all right. Which, he seemed fine. It didn't bother him. I don't think anything bothers this horse. People were chanting his name, screaming, hollering, he was soaking every minute of it up. Now I'll go back and give him some peppermints.

THE MODERATOR: On that sweet note, we want to thank Joe Lerro, Joe Judge, Tim Ritchey, Jeremy Rose and Chuck Zacney for a thrilling victory in the Preakness and onto the Belmont.

ROBBIE BAILES (Trainer of Scrappy T, 2nd) - "He got looking around at the top of the stretch and he just bolted. We thought we had him straight, but he's never been around this kind of crowd. He really dug back in again. It was a hell of a race. We were real pleased."

RAMON DOMINGUEZ (Jockey of Scrappy T, 2nd) - "My horse felt like he was looking around when we came into the stretch, but I wasn't expecting him to have any problems. When I hit him left-handed, he didn't like it and came out unexpectedly. It completely caught me off guard. I didn't feel a bump, but he did lose his rear action. I'm just happy me and Jeremy didn't come off. He clipped my heels. Once he went by, we got it straightened out. He was running so straight up to that point. It's still hard for me to believe he did something like that. We were in a great spot prior to that."

JOHN SHIRREFFS (Trainer of Giacomo, 3rd) - "I didn't see a lot of the race. It was hard to see down the backside. But I don't think there was any embarrassment in running third in the Preakness. We were pleased with the effort. Mike Smith said he had a little trouble getting through at one point. The horse doesn't accelerate real way and he had trouble getting to the opening. He wins the Derby and comes back to run third in the Preakness. I think that says a lot about Giacomo. Mike Smith said he had a lot of horse at the wire. He was full of run."

MIKE SMITH (Jockey of Giacomo, 3rd) - "My horse ran dynamite, but I had to idle a very long way and that really hurts you in this type of race. He galloped out great, so I know he'll come back strong in his next race."

NICK ZITO (Trainer of Sun King, 4th, Noble Causeway, 6th, High Fly, 10th) - "No excuses. Bailey said that high Fly was slipping around out there from the word go. Noble Causeway, the jockey said he tried. Sun King ran a good race to be fourth. It is disappointing for what we're trying to accomplish, but really it's not that disappointing. There's always somebody better."

RAFAEL BEJARANO (Jockey of Sun King, 4th) - "We broke really well, but the 11 (High Limit) had too much speed for us. We wanted to stay close and save ground but at the 5/8ths pole we had some trouble and again at the 3/8ths pole we had some trouble. I think it was the 7 horse (Closing Argument). He finished strong, but was not as good as the others today."

BOBBY FRANKEL (Trainer of High Limit, 5th) - "He ran good, didn't he? Where did he finish? I think he was fifth. If Lukas' horse wasn't with him he would have won, and where did his horse finish?"

EDGAR PRADO (Jockey of High Limit, 5th) - "He ran a really good race and he wanted to challenge, but I feel that he could have finished a lot better if he hadn't gotten bumped around so much."

GARY STEVENS (Jockey of Noble Causeway, 6th) - "The race set up all right for us, but we were a long way out of it and there was just too much ground to make up."

GLEN STUTE , son of WARREN STUTE (Trainer of Greeley's Galaxy, 7th) - "He didn't break as well as we would have liked. The he moved his way through traffic, and David did one heck of a job. We got in position and made a good move up the rail. We just got outrun. We've got one heck of a horse."

DAVID FLORES (Jockey of Greeley's Galaxy, 7th) - "I had a hard time getting him out of the gate. I let him settle and he got into the bridle. I was in good shape on the back side. I was in a perfect spot at the 3/8ths pole, but he just flattened out. When the winner flew by me I knew I was in trouble."

KING LEATHERBURY (Trainer of Malibu Moonshine, 8th) - "He's walking the shedrow and doesn't look any worse for wear. Considering the competition, he didn't run all that bad a race and I enjoyed the Preakness experience. If you can't enjoy this, you can't enjoy racing."

STEVE HAMILTON (Jockey of Malibu Moonshine, 8th) - "My horse was okay early. He ran his race today, but the middle of the race went very fast for us. He was trying at the end, but he cold not make up any ground."

KIARAN MC LAUGHLIN (Trainer of Closing Argument, 9th) - "Cornelio said he didn't handle the racetrack. He wasn't traveling well over it. He didn't have a good day and didn't like the track. Maybe back in two weeks was not a positive either."

CORNELIO VELASQUEZ (Jockey of Closing Argument, 9th) - "My horse did not like the track today. He broke well, but I had to do a bit of a check on the first turn and after that, he didn't seem to run his best race today."

JERRY BAILEY (Jockey of High Fly, 10th) - "My horse was never really in the race. He usually lays close but with the speed today, we decided to lay six or seven back. After that, he was just spinning his wheels. He was never really in it."

BARRY ROSE (Trainer of Hal's Image, 11th) - "He broke like I expected him to, but I thought he'd be right up near the lead and not shuffled back through the field. I didn't talk to the jock, but maybe the groom did and I'll find out more. We'll take him back to Calder and go from there. It was a great experience to be here. It would have been a lot nicer if we had run better, though."

JOSE SANTOS (Jockey of Hal's Image, 11th) - "My horse broke really good, but the others had more speed, so we wound up in the back of the pack. I think the best horse won today and both the jockey and the horse did a great job together."

CRAIG DOLLASE (Trainer of Wilko, 12th) - "He was in the right spot. He got flat on the backside. He tried hard, but it wasn't his day."

COREY NAKATANI (Jockey of Wilko, 12th) - "He needs to go longer. The two weeks between this race and the Derby wasn't enough time. He got tired."

DOMINICK SCHETTINO (Trainer of Galloping Grocer, 13th) - "Joe rode a perfect race. He had him just where he needed to be and the horse didn't fire."

JOE BRAVO (Jockey of Galloping Grocer, 13th) - "My horse ran a nice race. He battled but got jostled on the first turn. He did not do well after that. But he's a tough horse and should do good in the future."

D. WAYNE LUKAS (Trainer of Going Wild, 14th) - "Those fractions were too much for my horse. I don't think he's got the quality for these. He's one-dimensional. But we'll be back for another shot another year."

ROBBY ALBARADO (Jockey of Going Wild, 14th) - "My horse needs to learn to harness his speed. He's a little too aggressive right now. It compromises his finish."

Horse	Win	Place	Show
Afleet Alex	$8.60	$5.00	$3.20
Scrappy T		$11.20	$5.80
Giacomo			$4.80

Preakness Stakes - 2005