There is a possibility that the winner of the 2011 Kentucky Derby may race in the 2011 Preakness Stakes without taking any practice runs at Pimlico until the day of the race. Animal Kingdom's trainer Graham Motion said Monday that he is "leaning towards" keeping Animal Kingdom at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Maryland instead of having it train at Pimlico.
Motion said that the environment at Fair Hill provides Animal Kingdom with a much more "natural" training environment than Pimlico, and therefore, there's no reason to ship Animal Kingdom until the very last minute. Previously, the plan was to ship Animal Kingdom to Pimlico a day or two before the race.
This means that the stall that traditionally houses the Kentucky Derby winner will likely be empty the entire week. It remains to be seen whether Motion's gamble will pay off.
The 2011 Preakness Stakes gets underway on May 21 at Pimlico racetrack. Stay with our 2011 Preakness Stakes StoryStream for odds, contender profiles, post positions and more. To look back at the Derby, check out SB Nation's 2011 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.