On a rainy afternoon in Maryland, Exaggerator one-upped his second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby (G1) with a rousing victory in the $1.5 million Preakness S. (G1), defeating Derby winner Nyquist, who was nosed out for second by Cherry Wine.
The win was particularly sweet for Exaggerator’s jockey Kent Desormeaux and his brother Keith, who thanked WinStar Farm for joining the Exaggerator team during his speech on the winner’s podium.
Exaggerator will stand at WinStar upon completion of his racing career.
After an uneventful break from post 5, Exaggerator settled along the rail well off the pace, while Nyquist was engaged on the front end in a spirited battle with Uncle Lino, blistering through the first quarter mile in :22.38 seconds.
Desormeaux, meanwhile, had Exaggerator going comfortably along the inside, and moved up steadily down the backstretch. Appearing to have plenty of run in him around the turn, Exaggerator swung off the fence turning for home, powering around Nyquist to the lead. Nyquist tried both inside and out to challenge Exaggerator, but could not get to him, with Exaggerator winning by a decisive 3 1/2 lengths over Cherry Wine, who closed from far back to nose out Nyquist for second.
The final time over the sloppy going was 1:58.31.
Interviewed aboard Exaggerator after the race, Kent said, “I can’t even put it into words, it’s going to take a while, I’m in shock right now. I think Nyquist had company around the course; I had a dream trip today.”
Exaggerator has now banked $2,971,120, with graded wins in the Santa Anita Derby (G1), Saratoga Special (G2), and Delta Downs Jackpot (G3), in addition to the Preakness.
With his ability to bounce back quickly after races, Keith said that team Exaggerator would be in Belmont in three weeks “with bells on” for the Belmont S. (G1).
