May 18, 2013, Pimlico Race track, Balitmore, Maryland ~ Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas made history at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday when he saddled Oxbow for a front-running upset victory in the 138th Preakness Stakes (G1). The 15-1 long shot gave his 77-year-old trainer his sixth Preakness victory, as well as his 14th triumph in a Triple Crown event.
“Gary knows the horse a lot better than I do, so I told him to just go ahead and ride him. I told him ‘you might find yourself up there; if you do just get in a high cruising speed, and it worked.’
Gary Stevens: “I couldn’t believe that no one challenged me going into the far turn, but when no one did, I said, I think everybody’s in trouble right now. I expected to maybe see a horse come up and shadow me the last 50 yards, at least get up on my hip, on Oxbow’s hip. When that didn’t happen, when I didn’t see anybody by 16th pole and Oxbow was not responding to the presence of another horse, normally a horse can hear before myself and with their vision, another horse comes up and they’ll kind of jump in it. A lot of critics are going to think that I’m full of it saying this, but I won with a little something left, believe it or not.”
Saturday’s disappointment in the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown only made Orb’s trainer, Shug McGaughey, appreciate his Derby victory even more.
“Winning the Derby was my lifelong dream. We won it. I would have loved to win (Saturday) to take it to the next level, so I do appreciate how tough it is,” McGaughey said.
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