Blazing Sevens nearly overcomes wide trip to win Preakness

Blazing Sevens nearly blazed a wide path Saturday to trainer Chad Brown’s third Preakness Stakes victory.

The Good Magic colt was second by a head to winner National Treasure in the Grade 1, $1.65 million Preakness. Hung wide most of the way, he dueled the winner in a rough-and-tumble stretch duel but came up just short.

“He ran great,” Blazing Sevens jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. said. “He tried so hard. He fought all the way to the wire. … Just could not get by him at the end.”

Blazing Sevens drew the No. 7 post in a field of eight. That stall became the outside post Friday morning when First Mission, who drew No. 8, was scratched.

Even in the smallest Preakness field since 1986, the outside post proved a hinderance for Blazing Sevens as Ortiz struggled to save ground.

Blazing Sevens was third in the early going behind pace setter National Treasure and 10-1 shot Coffeewithchris. The latter of those two was positioned in the middle of the track through the first turn, keeping Blazing Sevens wide.

Ortiz and Blazing Sevens remained outside down the backstretch and entered the stretch in the four-path. It was not until the final sixteenth of a mile that he fought his way inside.

“I did not want to be in the middle of the racetrack the whole way, but I don’t think Irad had much choice,” Brown said. “The horse just got a very, very wide trip and he came up just short. I think the amount of ground lost probably cost him.

“I was a little worried because he was so wide the whole way. I thought maybe it might take the starch out of him a little bit, and it did. He had the outside post and I think Irad made the best decisions that he could. I don’t see what he could have done differently.”

Even with the wide trip, Blazing Sevens nearly pulled off a Preakness win at 9-2 odds. He contacted National Treasure when drifting in toward the sixteenth pole, bumped twice more toward the finish and was second by a head.

Blazing Sevens aimed to follow Cloud Computing (2017) and Early Voting (2022) as Brown-trained runners to bypass the Kentucky Derby before winning the Preakness. Brown and owner Rodeo Creek Racing passed on the Derby after a third-place run April 8 at Keeneland in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1).

For his career, Blazing Sevens sports a 7: 2-1-2 record with $895,250 earned. The second-place effort at Pimlico was his best finish since winning Aqudeuct’s Champagne Stakes (G1) last October.

“He was coming into the race as good as possible, and I am very proud of his effort,” Brown said. “The horse really showed up today.

“We have won this race a couple of times and we have had really good trips. Today we did not have quite the trip we wanted. It goes both ways. That’s horse racing.”