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.