by Jeff Apel

Trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. feels like a winner when he looks over a list of possible starters Big Brown may face in the $1-million Preakness Stakes (G1) on May 17 at Pimlico Race Course.

“I’m feeling that we have the best horse in the race—the fastest horse,” Dutrow said during a teleconference on Thursday. “I’m glad to see the competition that’s in there. It’s not like it’s coming up a stellar-packed field. Anyone can see that—me especially.”

Big Brown’s 4 3/4-length win in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) on May 3 at Churchill Downs left Dutrow feeling as confident as ever entering the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown.

Four three-year-olds—Illinois Derby (G2) winner and Kentucky Derby fifth-place finisher Recapturetheglory and graded stakes-placed winners Racecar Rhapsody, Kentucky Bear, and Yankee Bravo—are confirmed starters for the 1 3/16-mile race.

Harlem Rocker, Macho Again, Behindatthebar, Giant Moon, Tres Borrachos, and Stevil also are possible starters.

IEAH Stables’s and Paul Pompa Jr.’s Big Brown is unbeaten in four career starts. IEAH Stables purchased a majority interest in the Boundary colt and transferred him to Dutrow following an 11 1/4-length debut win for trainer Pat Reynolds in a maiden special weight race on September 3 at Saratoga Race Course.

Dutrow said the Preakness competition might be in trouble if Big Brown runs as good as Dutrow feels following the Kentucky Derby.

“I think it’s the best he’s come out of a race since we’ve had him. He just came out of it so good,” Dutrow said. “The other two races he had run down a little bit up front. That kind of cost him a little bit. That is the best I’ve seen him come out of his race.”

Big Brown returned to the track on Wednesday for the first time since the Kentucky Derby and jogged one mile under exercise rider Michelle Nevin, then jogged one mile on a muddy track on Thursday. Dutrow said the colt will follow a light training schedule leading up to the Preakness.

“I’m figuring that the lighter I train him, the better,” Dutrow said. “Everyone can see that he’s fit and he’s got plenty of talent, so I don’t want to squeeze anything out of him. I just want to go as slow and easy with this horse as I can between races. I’m not looking for any pressure.”

Kentucky Bear, the third-place finisher in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) on April 12 at Keeneland Race Course, was excluded from the Kentucky Derby field because of a lack of graded stakes earnings. Trainer Reade Baker watched Big Brown draw off in the stretch in the Kentucky Derby on a Churchill track that underwent extensive work following heavy rain the day before the race.

“Let’s not get Big Brown in the Hall of Fame too soon,” Baker said. “He was the best of those horses on a very unique racing surface with all the rain and what they had to do with the track.

“I’ll admit he is the best of those. But that certainly doesn’t make him better than anybody else.”

Recapturetheglory finished fifth in the Kentucky Derby after trying to lunge in the paddock. The Cherokee Run colt also unseated jockey E.T. Baird after being startled by the crowd entering the chute that connects to the main track.

Trainer Louie Roussel III said Recapturetheglory has trained with cotton in his earns since the race, and will wear earplugs the day of the Preakness. The earplugs will be removed at the starting gate.

“He just ran his race in that paddock,” Roussel said. “I don’t know how many lengths you can [say] that he lost because of his antics in there. And then, coming out of the tunnel, he threw the jockey off.”

Jeff Apel is a Thoroughbred Times assistant daily news editor