Cloud Computing stuns rivals to win Preakness Stakes at Pimlico

In what was a surprise result, the Chad Brown-trained horse ridden by jockey Javier Castellano chased down Classic Empire inside the final furlong to win the $1.5 million race by the short margin of a head.

Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming went into the race as favourite for the second leg of the Triple Crown, however he faded at the head of the stretch after trying to make all the running and ended up a dismal eighth from the field of ten, coming in more than 13 lengths back.

In front of a record crowd of 140,327 at Pimlico, Always Dreaming was pressured throughout by Classic Empire in what looked set to be a dramatic two-horse showdown.

However it did not transpire that way as Always Dreaming faltered as they entered the stretch, after which Classic Empire looked sure to win the race as he moved into a clear lead. That was until Cloud Computing, who had stalked the leading pair throughout, began to wear him down close to home before taking the decision on the line. Longshot Senior Investment took third, albeit nearly five lengths adrift.

What made the success even more remarkable was that Cloud Computing was only having only the fourth start of his career and had never previously scored outside maiden company, with trainer Brown better known for his prowess with turf horses.

After Cloud Computing came third in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct in April, 38-year-old Brown decided to target the third Saturday in May instead of the first, and he duly collected the blanket of Black-eyed Susans. In doing so he was only the fourth horse in 34 years to win the Preakness Stakes without first running in the Kentucky Derby.

“I’m not going to dispute the fact that I brought in a fresh horse as part of our strategy,” Brown explained.

“Our horse is very talented too. Classic Empire and Always Dreaming are two outstanding horses and our strategy was, if we were going to ever beat them, let’s take them on two weeks’ rest when we have six, and it worked.”

Castellano honoured a commitment to the trainer to ride Cloud Computing and the Venezuelan, whose only previous success in a Triple Crown race had come in the same contest via Bernardini in 2006, said, “We had a plan and we were sticking to the plan and it worked out great.

We analysed the race and handicapped the race together – we had a lot of thoughts and put them together and I think that is the most important thing in a relationship.

We have a great communication together and I think that is the key to winning the race.”

Brown was non-committal about the likelihood of Cloud Computing’s turning out again for next month’s Belmont Stakes.

“Do I think he’s a mile-and-a-half horse?” he said. “He’s never really struck me that way, but I’m not going to rule it out.”

Always Dreaming’s trainer Todd Pletcher predictably was a disappointed man, said “He [Classic Empire] probably went pretty ambitiously at us and maybe cost himself the race.

“But we didn’t have an excuse. We were in the position we expected to be and I think the turnaround was a little too quick. He ran so hard in the Derby and today just wasn’t his day.

“He didn’t seem to relish the track, but I don’t really think that was it. It was just that he put so much into the Derby that it wasn’t meant to be.”