Animal Kingdom won’t rush to Pimlico

Photo by: Karl Merton Ferron

MCT

Photo

Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom grazes on fresh grass after the ride from Kentucky to Herringswell Stables at Fair Hill Training Center Tuesday, May 10, 2011 in Elkton, Maryland. Animal Kingdom is training for the Preakness.

Associated Press

ELKTON, Md.

Graham Motion loves being surrounded by acres of lush grass while working in peaceful solitude at the Fair Hill Training Center.

Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom does, too, it seems.

Which is why Motion is strongly considering waiting until Saturday to ship his chestnut colt 40 miles south to Pimlico Race Course for the Preakness.

After watching Animal Kingdom gallop 11/2 miles Monday in relative obscurity, Motion decided there was no rush to move his horse from spacious Herringswell Stables to a bit cramped Stall 40 at Pimlico, the traditional home of the Derby winner.

“I’m leaning more toward Saturday morning,” Motion said. “I have quite a few horses to run on Saturday, and that’s what they’re going to do.

“I don’t really know why I need to do anything differently with [Animal Kingdom]. He’s very happy here and I just want to keep things as normal as they can be.”

Motion is the first Maryland-based trainer to win the Derby since Michael Matz saddled Barbaro in 2006. Before Barbaro tragically broke his right hind leg in the Preakness, the undefeated bay colt enjoyed munching on buttercups and running free on the heavenly green fields of Fair Hill, an equine oasis nestled in the hills of this rural community.

It’s the perfect place for Motion and Animal Kingdom, who won the Derby at odds of 20-1.

“Pimlico, unfortunately, is pretty much tarmac everywhere,” Motion said. “Here we’ve got this beautiful property where we can do so many different things.

“The horses can get turned out in small paddocks, and we’ve got plenty of pasture they can graze on. It’s just a much more natural environment for the horses.”

More than a week later, Motion still shakes his head in amazement when recounting the feeling of saddling up the Kentucky Derby champion.

“It’s fairy tale stuff,” he said. “The Derby, it’s almost an unreasonable goal to set out to win because so many things have to align. I think it’s almost unfair to put that kind of pressure on yourself. For us, I just feel like it was fate, it was our turn.”

Which is not to say luck had anything to do with it.

“He was the best horse,” Motion said. “He did it very easily, in fact.”

And now comes the challenge of winning the Triple Crown, a feat last accomplished by Affirmed in 1978.

“I don’t even want to think about it. I’m excited to go to the Preakness with the Derby winner. That’s something I never expected to do in my lifetime,” Motion said. Three reporters spoke with Motion on Monday. At the Preakness, he and Animal Kingdom will be the focus of the racing world.

Bob Baffert, trainer of 10th-place finisher Midnight Interlude, knows his main competition on Saturday will come from the horse that beat him soundly in Kentucky.

“Animal Kingdom is definitely the horse to beat,” Baffert said. “He was the best horse in the Derby, no question.”