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NOTES

Big Brown back on track for first time since Derby win

RECAPTURETHEGLORY CONFIRMS FOR PREAKNESS

WIRE, SPECIAL REPORTS
Big Brown, left, walked the track at Churchill Downs Wednesday with Michelle Nevin aboard.
Associated Press
Big Brown, left, walked the track at Churchill Downs Wednesday with Michelle Nevin aboard.
Trainer Patrick Reynolds advised Paul Pompa Jr. to buy Big Brown for $190,000 at Keeneland last year. Photo courtesy of Horsephotos.com

LOUISVILLE --

Kentucky Derby champion Big Brown returned to the track at Churchill Downs on Wednesday, four days after his 43/4-length win in the Run for the Roses.

Trainer Rick Dutrow watched from the rail as Big Brown walked a lap around the track with exercise rider Michelle Nevin. Dutrow said the 3-year-old colt has shown no ill effects from the Derby, in which Big Brown became the first horse in nearly 80 years to win from the No. 20 post.

"He's come back good, he's eating everything we give him," Dutrow said. "That's all you're looking for."

Big Brown will spend the next week galloping each morning before shipping to Pimlico for the Preakness. Dutrow said he's considering putting his colt through a "minor" workout before the Preakness much like the three-furlong work he put in on the Thursday before the Derby.

Preakness field at nine

BALTIMORE — Recapturetheglory, fifth in the Kentucky Derby behind winner Big Brown, will run in the May 17 Preakness, probably making the colt the only one from the Derby that will challenge Big Brown.

"We're there to win," co-owner Ronnie Lamarque said Wednesday from New Orleans. "Big Brown is a bear, but we're not going to run in it to run second. I'll look at all the other entrants. They don't scare me at all, and I believe our horse definitely belongs, and we feel like the Preakness is our kind of race."

Recapturetheglory jogged a mile and then galloped a mile Wednesday at Churchill Downs.

Recapturetheglory will leave Louisville on Friday and arrive at Pimlico on Saturday.

Also headed to the Preakness is Racecar Rhapsody, fourth in the Lexington Stakes for trainer Kenny McPeek. He'll be ridden by Robby Albarado, who won last year's Preakness aboard Curlin.

The Preakness field now stands at nine. Others still considering the race are Harlem Rocker, Riley Tucker and Macho Again.

$1 million Pick 6 payout

A victory by a 49-1 shot in the ninth race at Churchill Downs Wednesday made one bettor an instant millionaire with the second-largest Pick 6 payout in track history.

The win in Wednesday's finale by Future Prospect, who paid $100.80 to win as the second longest shot in a field of 11, allowed the entire Pick 6 pool of $1,127,774.60 to go to a bettor who wagered through the Nevada betting hub.