When the dirt settled, Shackleford was a smidge better than Animal Kingdom

After dominating the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago, Animal Kingdom's reign ended with a mouthful of dirt in the $1 million Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course near Baltimore.

Animal Kingdom lost his chance of being the first horse in 33 years to win the Triple Crown when Shackleford stared down pacesetter Flashpoint, took over the lead and thundered down the stretch to win by half a length. Animal Kingdom closed with every step, but had too much to do after dallying at the back of the field, catching more dirt than he'd ever experienced.

The Derby was Animal Kingdom's first race on dirt, and with the slow pace he was close on the heels of other horses. Dirt hit him in the chest. But for the first half mile of the Preakness, he led one horse, Dialed In. And this time, he was getting dirt in the face, a new experience.

"We were just too far back," said jockey John Velazquez. "When I wanted him to go, he got dirt kicked in his face, so that I had to pull him farther back then I wanted him to be."

Trainer Graham Motion said Animal Kingdom struggled with the dirt in his face, and his early tardiness caused Velazquez to have to weave in among horses during the last three-eighths of a mile.

Motion couldn't see much of the race, except that Velazquez had to make minor adjustments with Animal Kingdom to stay with the group. "The horse did nothing wrong," Motion said. "The horse ran a great race."

Earlier in the week, Steve Asmussen, trainer of third-place Astrology, said the thing that surprised him the most during his earliest Derby tries was the amount of dirt thrown up at horses at the back of the field. "We run a lot of horses that take a lot of dirt," he said. "But nothing compares to the kickback they take in the Derby."

Horses experiencing it for the first time are taken by surprise. It takes them off their game and affects their mindset, Asmussen said.

Asmussen's Astrology avoided kickback in the Preakness by racing close behind the leaders. But Animal Kingdom took the worst of it in the 14-horse field. In the Derby, he had run in mid-pack, and then advanced behind the leaders before making his final charge. He was much farther back in the Preakness.

Had Shackleford lost, he would have had plenty of excuses. He approached the starting gate, appearing washed out and sweaty about his shoulders. He was wound up during the post parade. He bobbled at the break.

But the big chestnut has a high cruising speed. He hovered over the speedy Flashpoint, who took the field to the first quarter in a blazing 22.69 seconds, and then to the half in 46.87.

The only thing that concerned Shackleford's trainer, Dale Romans, was the strategy of Flashpoint. But Shackleford, sitting outside of him, turned out to be an ideal scenario.

"Our horse likes to look a horse in the eye," Romans said. "He set right off of him all the way around there, and then Flashpoint gave in and we took over the lead. I think it blew up [Shackleford's] heart. He felt good about himself at that point."

The two front-runners managed to slow the pace to the three-quarter-mile mark -- which made the jobs of closers Animal Kingdom and Dialed In more difficult. Dialed In finished fourth, unable to catch the leaders again, although he finished the race with some cuts in his hind legs.

Flashpoint ended up 14th. Trainer Wesley Ward has now conceded that the gray is a sprinter, and seven-eighths of a mile would be stretching it.

Animal Kingdom went off as the 2-to-1 favorite, with Shackleford at 12-to-1. Third choice Mucho Macho Man finished sixth, apparently having trouble getting hold of the track.

Motion and camp are still considering whether they will continue on to the Belmont Stakes, the grueling 1.5-mile race that is the final jewel of the Triple Crown in three weeks.

Likewise, Shackleford's camp has thinking to do. Can Shackleford, with his front-running style, tackle the distance?

Romans immediately thought of the advice of a trainer who won five consecutive Belmont Stakes from 1982 to 1986.

"Woody Stevens said a long time ago, Belmont is a speed horse's race," Romans said. "Everybody's tired at the eighth pole, so the horse on the lead can usually keep on going. I don't know. We'll see how he comes out of it.

"If he comes out of it as well as he did at the Derby, we'll have to seriously consider it."

All year long, long shots have been upstaging favorites in the major 3-year-old races. But Romans believes that the future will show that this is a good crop of 3-year-olds, despite the defection of horses like last year's talented juvenile champion Uncle Mo, nursing an intestinal problem.

"I think everybody's been knocking them a little bit when we lost Uncle Mo," Romans said. "Hopefully, we'll have a good rivalry with Animal Kingdom when it comes down to the wire."

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