Mine That Bird trainer unsure about the Preakness

By Steve Ginsburg

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (Reuters) - Kentucky Derby champion Mine That Bird may skip the Preakness and concentrate on the Belmont Stakes in June, his trainer said Sunday.

Chip Woolley said Mine That Bird was better suited for the mile-and-a-half Belmont but would wait and see how the Kentucky-bred gelding emerges from his stunning Derby upset.

"No obligation," Woolley told reporters about attending the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on May 16.

"You've got to do what's best for the horse," he said. "The horse has got to come first. We'll just see what happens."

Woolley said the mile-and-three-sixteenths Preakness "tends to be a little more speed biased."

"I don't know that that's going to fit our horse all that well," the 45-year-old trainer said. "The longer distance at Belmont will help the horse. The farther he goes, the better he's going to be, I'm dead sure of that.

"We'll sit down and discuss it and have a decision in the next couple of days."

Woolley said he was still amazed how jockey Calvin Borel managed to guide 50-1 longshot Mine That Bird from last place at the far turn into a mouth-dropping 6 3/4-length victory.

Sitting in 19th place with a half-mile to go was not in the playbook, said Woolley, especially in the Churchill Downs slop.

"We had talked about being eight to 10 from the lead," he said. "I had felt all along that's where the horse needed to be. But we had never got that trip.

"He's a little horse, not very big. When he got banged around there (at the start) we were really concerned right away. I've said before he couldn't take a bunch of beating.

"When he got shuffled that far back, I wasn't too high on my chances... But the horse responded. We were just lucky to be there."

Borel was 12th at the top of the stretch but squeezed by along the rail to capture his second Kentucky Derby. Mine That Bird returned $103.20 for a $2 ticket, the largest Derby payoff since 1913.

"This horse never got nearly enough credit for his ability," said Woolley. You earned your way here. It's not like we just paid him in here and brought him. He deserved a chance to run.

"Every playmaker in the form said he had the biggest chance to run last. I figured he'd go off at 100-1. But the horse anted up. He'll leave it on the track every time."

(Editing by Dave Thompson; To comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)