Rick Bozich | Nick Zito needs a change of pace in 2011 Preakness

BALTIMORE -- Some screwball sports columnist in Louisville described Nick Zito as Hollywood handsome when the trainer brought his first horse to the Kentucky Derby in 1990.

Is it risky to make Preakness projections off the Derby? Wasn't the Derby pace too bizarre for that?
The fractions for the first three-quarters of a mile at Churchill Downs were so plodding they could have been timed with a sundial. As Crist reported, the 1:13.40 clocking for the opening six furlongs was the slowest on a fast Derby track in 64 years.

“I carried that story around for 20 years,” Zito said. It is with tremendous heartache that I must announce I've been dumped. Another column has taken my place in Zito's fistful of important documents, the ones he carries in his front right pocket.Preakness

I got the news Friday morning outside the stakes barn at Pimlico Race Course, where Zito has been preparing Dialed In for the Preakness.


For nearly two weeks questioners have pressed him for an explanation why his colt was beaten soundly as the Derby favorite. Dialed In finished eighth, 7½ lengths behind winner Animal Kingdom.

Zito unfolded a story by Steven Crist, a shrewd handicapper who also serves as the Daily Racing Form publisher. Crist asked — and tried to answer — the question everybody should be asking as the Triple Crown accelerates (hopefully) from the Kentucky Derby to the Preakness this afternoon:

They say this Derby resembled a turf race. The top 3-year-olds cannot move that slowly again. If the pace becomes legitimate — say, 1:10 or faster — which horse is most likely to benefit?

The presence of the article in Zito's pocket is an unmistakable clue about what Crist suggests: that Dialed In ran the most impressive closing half-mile in the Derby. Crank up the pace, give Dialed In tiring leaders to chase and look out. He's a threat.

“Even in defeat, (Crist) explains my horse had credibility,” Zito said. “He just couldn't get there because of the way the race was run. I couldn't believe how slow they were going.

source : http://www.courier-journal.com