Kentucky Derby favorite Dialed In may have finished a distant eighth in that race, but all is not lost. As it turns out, Dialed In can make its owner very rich if it finds a way to win the 2011 Preakness Stakes on May 21.
By virtue of wins in the Florida Derby and the Holy Bull Stakes, Dialed In is eligible for a $5.5 million bonus if it wins the Preakness. Combine that with the $600,000 the winning horse normally gets, and Dialed in trainer Nick Zito could make a record $6.1 million if Dialed In comes through.
Unsurprisingly, Zito is downplaying the pressure of the money, saying this in an interview with the AP:
"For me, honestly, I'm telling you now - you could give mine to charity, as long as the feed man don't mind," Zito said. "He could take his and you could give the rest to charity ... You've gotta pay your bills, that's what it's about. But I'm blessed, as you know, and I'm not going to change. I'm just grateful to have the horse."
It's the politically-correct thing to say, but still, how can Zito not be affected by the possibility? If Dialed In wins, the $6.1 million would be the largest single-race earning in North American horse racing history, topping the $5.84 million Smarty Jones earned in the 2004 Kentucky Derby.
The 2011 Preakness Stakes gets underway on May 21 at Pimlico. Stay with our Preakness Stakes StoryStream for more on the race. To look back at the Derby, check out SB Nation's2011 Kentucky Derby StoryStream. Also, our horse racing blog And Down The Stretch They Come has two must-read resources for Derby and Preakness fans: A Beginner's Guide To Following Horse Racing and a glossary of horse racing terms.