Ridden by Jose Valdivia Jr., Danderek ran 1 1-4 miles on the turf in 2:02.05 and paid $12, $6.40 and $3.60.

Renegade Storm returned $6.40 and $4, while Antidote was another half-length back in third and paid $2.80 as the 5-2 favorite.

Danderek has won five of 22 career starts and has earnings of $72,502. He was claimed for $40,000 in the race and will be headed to the barn of new trainer Dan Blacker after providing trainer Francesco Santella his first victory of the year. It was Danderek’s fourth start in the U.S.

The Hall of Fame trainer is also looking for a victory Friday with unbeaten Mamma Kimbo in the Black-Eyed Susan, a Grade 2 race for 3-year-old fillies.

Baffert is excited about Mamma Kimbo’s chances. The race will be held a day before Baffert saddles Bodemeister in the Preakness.

Mamma Kimbo, who didn’t begin racing until this year, has won twice. A field of nine is expected, including two horses trained by Todd Pletcher.

Friday’s card also includes the Pimlico Special, which returns after a three-year absence. The $300,000 Grade 3 race has a 10-horse field, including Alternation, who takes a three-race winning streak in the Special.

Most of the messages are from friends and family, offering congratulations following the victory that lifted the jockey from Mexico out of obscurity.

Gutierrez is still waiting for the calls offering him more mounts.

That could change after Saturday, if I’ll Have Another wins the Preakness and moves into position for a run at the Triple Crown.

So far, the Derby victory hasn’t raised the soft-spoken rider’s profile. Gutierrez is still trying to crack the deep jockey colony in Southern California.

He got the Derby mount on a whim after making a favorable impression on owner Paul Reddam. Impressed by how Gutierrez rode a race at Santa Anita, Reddam decided to give the newcomer a chance.

“This is kind of a step out of the box,” Reddam said. “It’s one of those weird intuitions that you get. It’s amazing when it works out, which isn’t too often I suppose.”

The horse and rider tandem clicked immediately. They are unbeaten in the three races since teaming up, a string that includes the Santa Anita Derby.

That success hasn’t opened many doors for Gutierrez.

“I’m still not riding that many horses,” Gutierrez said. “Everybody knows that California racing has top trainers and top jockeys. I’m just glad to be riding with them. I am getting a lot of calls, but not to ride.”

Last weekend he had only four mounts at Hollywood Park.

A breakout is only a matter of time, said Doug O’Neill, I’ll Have Another’s trainer.

“Mario is the closest thing to Rafael Bejarano who many of you are familiar with,” O’Neill said. “He’s a finesse rider who is able to get the horse to drop the bit and relax. When he calls on them, they want to grab the bit and take off. Some guys have it and some don’t and Mario has it. And he’s such a confident, calm jockey. It won’t be long before his business picks up.”

Till then, Gutierrez is focusing on the Preakness.

“The horse is going to take me there,” he said. “I believe in the horse. He did it for me in Kentucky. He’s looking great. I’m not doing anything. The horse is proving a lot of people wrong.”

I’ll Have Another is the 5-2 second choice from post No. 9.

—-

HANDICAPPING: Before becoming a successful horse syndicator, Barry Irwin was a highly regarded handicapper for a number of publications.

His greatest fame has come lately as the head of Team Valor International. The partnership that sells fractional shares in racehorses has been on a roll, winning last year’s Kentucky Derby with Animal Kingdom. They try for another victory in a 3-year-old classic with Went the Day Well, who is 6-1 for the Preakness.

Went the Day Well had a rough trip in the Derby, rallying from 17th to get fourth, only 2 1/2 lengths behind I’ll Have Another.

The Derby winner and Bodemeister, the 8-5 favorite, are the consensus picks to win the Preakness. On Thursday morning, Irwin sharpened his handicapping pencil to sketch a scenario in which his horse pulls off a mild upset.

“I think what’s going to happen here, based on what I saw in the Derby, is that Bob Baffert is going to try and get his jock on Bodemeister to run slower early,” Irwin said.

In the Derby, Bodemeister set an impossibly fast pace on a hot afternoon and held on gamely for second.

Irwin doesn’t think the strategy will work. He believes Gutierrez will send I” Have Another right after Bodemeister.

“That guy will make sure Bodemeister goes fast,” Irwin said. “He’s going to press him. It’s going to be two good horses hooking up. It’ll be fast, not as fast as the Derby, but fast enough. If there is enough pressure on Bodemeister from I’ll Have Another, both those horses could be vulnerable.”

Setting the stage for a closer, like Went the Day Well.

“I can see a scenario where it can happen,” Irwin said.

—-

HOT PACE: Baffert never felt the thrill of victory in the Derby even though Bodemeister led all the way until the final 100 yards.

The pace was so fast Baffert knew his horse couldn’t last.

“When I saw the fractions I thought it was ridiculous, it’s not going to happen,” said Baffert, a five-time Preakness winner. “When he cut the corner (at the top of the stretch) and was five in front, I thought ‘Maybe.’ “

Baffert agrees with Irwin that slowing down Bodemeister will be key. That job falls to jockey Mike Smith.

“He can’t keep going too fast,” Baffert said. “Eventually it will take a toll on a horse. I hope Mike can slow it down. If he eats his Wheaties that day, we might have a shot.”

He was one of the most popular guys at the track because Animal Kingdom was the lone horse in the Preakness field with a shot at winning the Triple Crown.

Motion’s entrant in the Preakness on Saturday is Went the Day Well, who finished fourth at Churchill Downs two weeks ago.

So while Motion operates in relative obscurity, Doug O’Neill and Derby winner I’ll Have Another, along with Bob Baffert with Preakness favorite Bodemeister, are attracting the attention.

Motion says, “I’m more comfortable being under the radar.”

But he acknowledged Thursday that last year was far more exciting – even if Animal Kingdom ultimately lost the Preakness to Shackleford by a half-length.

“About 30 seconds,” the Hall of Fame trainer and five-time Preakness winner said. “I like coming here and I’ve got a good sound horse.”

Optimizer was 42-1 in the Derby where he finished 11th. He drew post No. 10 for the Preakness on Saturday and is again an outsider at 30-1 on the morning line.

Only 1 for 10 in his career, Optimizer needs to improve to compete at this level. Lukas is banking on the Derby experience and a rider change from Jon Court to Corey Nakatani to close the gap.

“When you see a little brilliance in a horse, as a trainer, you are always trying to fine tune it and get it altogether,” Lukas said. “Sometimes it comes together and sometimes it doesn’t. I know he’s got the ability to run with these horses. He’s got to put it together.”

Lukas holds the Preakness record with 36 starters.

R.W. Walden holds the Preakness training record, saddling seven winners from 1875-1888.

—

OUT OF ACTION: Guyana Star Dweej was withdrawn from Preakness consideration Wednesday morning with a left front foot injury.

He was battling a quarter crack, an injury to the hoof wall.

“It was still not properly healed,” trainer Doodnauth Shivmangal said from Belmont Park. “… So we decided we’re going to have to skip this one.”

Only 1 for 9, Guyana Star Dweej would have been the longest shot in the Preakness. He has never run in a stakes and finished second most recently in an allowance race at Belmont.

—

REUNITED: Julien Leparoux will be back aboard Daddy Nose Best for the Preakness.

They have been an effective team, combining to win the El Camino Real Derby and the Sunland Park Derby. Leparoux was in the saddle for all four of the colt’s wins.

They split up for the Derby with Leparoux opting to ride Union Rags. It didn’t work well for either party.

After a terrible start, Union Rags rallied to get seventh. Daddy Nose Best ran 10th with Garrett Gomez aboard.

They are now reunited, thanks to a late decision to run in the race by owner Bob Zollars in consultation with trainer Steve Asmussen.

“We feel like he completely bounced back,” Zollars said. “He’s very perky so we think he’s ready to run again.”

Asmussen will be looking for his third Preakness win following Curlin (2007) and the filly Rachel Alexandra (2009).

Daddy Nose Best was 12-1 on the morning line from post No. 8.

—

LONG JOURNEY: Creative Cause, fifth in the Derby, completed a lengthy round trip when he flew into Baltimore on Wednesday afternoon.

He returned to California following the Derby and caught a 5 a.m. PDT flight for the trip East.

“He’s a good traveler,” trainer Mike Harrington said.

Creative Cause will have to be. This is his third flight from the West Coast, having shipped to Churchill Downs to run third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last November.

He was 6-1, a co-third choice with Went the Day Well, from post No. 6.

O’Neill smiled. He figured the handicapper at Pimilico Race Course was merely displaying reverence for Bodemeister trainer Bob Baffert rather than dissing Derby winner I’ll Have Another.

“Bob Baffert has won five of these,” O’Neill said Wednesday. “I’ve never run a horse here. I totally respect that. I just hope anyone who bets Bodemeister is regretting it Saturday night.”

Baffert was asked whether being a five-time Preakness winner was an advantage.

“I’ve won it with the best horse. That’s why I’ve won it,” he replied. “That’s the best advantage you can have.”

And Bodemeister, who arrived at Pimlico on Wednesday, is in excellent shape.

“He looked great this week. He looks healthy,” Baffert said. “He doesn’t look like a horse that just ran a mile and a quarter.”

Despite losing the Derby to hard-charging I’ll Have Another, Bodemeister was installed as the 8-5 favorite in Saturday’s second jewel of the Triple Crown.

I’ll Have Another was a 5-2 pick on the morning line.

Baffert was delighted to receive the No. 7 post in the 11-horse field.

“With him, anything in the middle would be fine,” the Hall of Fame trainer said. “With the Preakness, you just don’t want to be stuck on the inside where you have to use your horse a little bit. The Derby winner drew really well, also.”

I’ll Have Another will start from the No. 9 post. The colt, who won the Derby out of the No. 19 post, will again be ridden by Mario Gutierrez.

“Anything with a nine in it, we feel very good about. We’re cool with it,” trainer Doug O’Neill said. “We talked about the possibility of being inside Bodemeister and really forcing our hand to push him early. Now it’s in Mario’s hands to still kind of push Bode, but we’ll be on the outside of him.”

The question is: Does Bodemeister have enough left to sprint to the finish in the 1 3/16-mile race?

“You can’t run as fast and as hard as he did and not have it affect you,” said Barry Irwin, managing partner of Went the Day Well, who finished fourth in the Derby and is a 6-1 shot in the Preakness.

A victory would give I’ll Have Another the chance to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.

“I’m confident,” O’Neill said. “You never know. But as long as we continue to train like our horse is training, we won’t be that far off Bodemeister. If anything Bodemeister might be behind us early.”

The odds were set by Pimlico Race Course handicapper Frank Carulli. The field is the smallest since 2007, when Curlin beat Derby winner Street Sense in a nine-horse field.

Also entered are Tiger Walk (30-1), Teeth of the Dog (15-1), Pretension (30-1), Zetterholm (20-1), Went the Day Well (6-1), Creative Cause (6-1), Daddy Nose Best (12-1), Optimizer (30-1) and Cozzetti (30-1).

Creative Cause trainer Mike Harrington, whose horse finished fifth in the Derby, was delighted with the No. 6 post.

“I don’t think it affects our running style,” Harrington said. “With 11 in there, post position is not nearly as important as the Derby. The middle is great. You couldn’t ask for anything better.”

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has a long shot with Optimizer, but spoke optimistically after getting the No. 10 post.

“I love it. I love the horses inside of me,” Lukas said. “I love the whole thing. If they gave me a pick, I would have picked that one. It turned out great. Every time they drew another one, it looked better.”

Here’s a look at five horses with a shot to defeat the Derby winner in the second leg of the Triple Crown.

—

BODEMEISTER

He was the morning-line favorite in the Derby, and he’s the morning-line choice in this one, too. Why? Because he’s fast, and the 1 1/4-mile Derby distance was just a little too far for him to carry all that speed. The Preakness is a sixteenth-of-a-mile shorter, plus Bodemeister won’t be pressured early like he was in the Derby by Trinniberg and Hansen, who are not entered. It probably doesn’t hurt that his trainer, Bob Baffert, has won the Preakness five times in 11 tries. Mike Smith is back to ride, and look for the Hall of Fame jockey to put his colt in front right out of the No. 7 gate.

—

WENT THE DAY WELL

A troubled trip that ended with a speedy finish in the Derby gives Went the Day Well fans hope for an upset. The same team that won last year’s Derby with Animal Kingdom only to finish a half-length behind Shackleford in the Preakness is confident their Spiral Stakes winner is ready to win a Classic. The New York-bred colt broke poorly from the No. 13 post under jockey John Velazquez, got caught in traffic through the first turn, but rallied in the stretch to close from ninth and 10 lengths back, to fourth and 2 1/2 lengths behind the winner. In a smaller field, look for Velazquez to avoid early trouble breaking from the No. 5 post and emerge as a major threat down the stretch.

—

CREATIVE CAUSE

This gray colt is quite familiar with I’ll Have Another. He lost to him by a nose in the 1 1/8-mile Santa Anita Derby, and finished fifth – three lengths behind two weeks ago in the 1 1/4-mile Derby. However, Creative Cause beat I’ll Have Another last year in the Best Pal. He also owns a win over Bodemeister in the 1 1/16-mile San Felipe. If jockey Joel Rosario can position Creative Cause in striking position turning for home, the colt would have another chance to show he can finish strong. It didn’t happen in the Derby, but the slightly shorter distance may be a positive.

—

TIGER WALK

One of the new shooters in the field, he’s competed in a trio of graded-stakes races this year. In his last start, the son of Tale of the Cat finished a non-threatening fourth in the Wood Memorial. He was fourth in the Gotham and third in the Withers before that. Tiger Walk has a tendency to lose ground around the turns so trainer Ignacio Correas will fit the colt with blinkers Saturday in an effort to keep him more focused. He’ll also have a new rider in Hall of Famer Kent Desormeaux – a two-time Preakness winner very familiar with the Pimlico racing surface. Long odds at 30-1, but he’s a hometown horse owned by Kevin Plank’s nearby Sagamore Farm.

—

COZZETTI

Nowadays, it’s wise not to discard the chances of horses trained by Dale Romans. He won last year’s Preakness with Shackleford, and watched as Dullahan finish a strong for third in the Derby two weeks ago. While his top 3-year-old is sitting out the Preakness, he’s sending out this gray colt with hopes of pulling off a surprise at 30-1. Earlier in the week, this maiden winner who likes to come from behind worked five furlongs in a fast 58.80 seconds over a muddy track at Churchill Downs, and Romans said, “He’s fresh, and he’s going to have to run fast” on Saturday, especially leaving from the outside No. 11 post. He was fourth in the Arkansas Derby, 9 3/4 lengths behind Bodemeister, in his last start.

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Follow Richard Rosenblatt on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/rosenblattap

And 5-1 pays the same at the edge of nowhere as it does on a coast, the difference in handicapping being that many of the 5-1 horses competing in the sticks belong in bed.

The point is, it’s easy to move on, to forget the last one when somebody did the wrong thing, and hustle yourself to the point where fortunes even out, to get to where a three-way photo win offsets a rube ride.

So: What Derby picks?

Working  for a reputable screen, it’s a wise thing to stand up to your picks once in a while.

So these Derby picks: My top two horses were Union Rags and Creative Cause.

And here I am to face the flat notes, the music, the fortunate ones who didn’t know that I’ll Have Another meant cookies, not beer, the “handicappers” who bet $2 in contest money on the winner.

Union Rags was probably the best horse in the race.

All the jockey had to do was outbreak an elephant next door; didn’t happen. I’m not the only one still mad 11 days later. The trainer is thinking about using another rider on Rags in New York.

Creative Cause could find trouble in a candy store.

He can’t corner.

Here’s your Preakness field by post position.

It’s like Derby Lite.

1. Tiger Walk (30-1): Won two in Crab City.
2. Teeth of the Dog (15-1): Hair of the Dog would go off shorter.
3. Pretension (30-1): Cured maiden status with nifty 29 Beyer at Charles Town.
4. Zetterholm (20-1): Trounced four in N.Y.
5. Went the Day Well (6-1): Went the Derby late.
6. Creative Cause (6-1): Has been producing boring reruns.
7. Bodemeister (8-5): Hurry wire.
8. Daddy Nose Best (12-1): Daddy nose Sunland.
9. I’ll Have Another (5-2): Sharp cookie.
10. Optimizer (30-1): Should have made a left and gone to Penn National.
11. Cozetti (30-1): Couldn’t outrun me.

In the Derby, any of 900 things could have happened.

Here, one of two things can happen: Bodemeister will again get an uncontested lead and will last, or his legs will turn rubbery and somebody like the Derby winner will swoop him.

PICKS

1. Bodemeister
2. Creative Cause
3. I’ll Have Another
4. Went the Day Well

Plan B

1. I’ll Have Another to simply win the race.

Plan C

1. Creative Cause over: Bodemeister, I’ll Have Another, Went the Day Well, Dog Teeth. (Creative Cause owes me a great deal of money).

Plan D

Penn National

Originally Posted on ESPN

This is, however, a game for optimists.

The Derby winner has generated little buzz, however. He is essentially the Big Brown of 2012, an obviously talented colt connected to people for whom it is difficult to root. While the horse is not responsible for its connections, they become inseparable in terms of perception on a stage this brightly lit. Complicating I’ll Have Another’s potential ascent to fame is a racing landscape cluttered with lingering issues, alleged crimes and eroding prospects that of late have conspired to dominate the conversation.

Trainer Doug O’Neill, it has been noted, is the West Coast equivalent to Rick Dutrow: a good horsemen, inarguably successful, but known to be at odds with authorities; colorful while operating on the fringes and owner of a record of transgression. Owner J. Paul Reddam, whose CashCall is a mortgage lender that has seen its share of negative headlines, is not exactly a warm and fuzzy figure whose horse is attempting to clear the second hurdle of the Triple Crown. Dutrow is now mired in court battles, fighting assaults on his racing license in Kentucky and New York, and four years after Big Brown, the owner, IEAH Stable, is a faint shadow of its former self. If Ill Have Another wins the Preakness on Saturday and moves on to New York in position to become the first Triple Crown winner since 1978, the people to whom he is connected will come under the magnification of scrutiny to which the sport at large has been subjected in recent months. Dutrow was, not without some justification, drawn and quartered during the three weeks between the Preakness and Belmont Stakes of 2008, as were the principals of IEAH.

You work with what you’ve got, but horse racing needs some good news — a Funny Cide or Smarty Jones type of story — now perhaps more than ever. What it has is controversy over chemicals; injuries; scandal centered upon institutional malfeasance in the nation’s most important market; an assault by a state government against an organization dedicated to the welfare of horses that would otherwise be abandoned or, worse, slaughtered; business setbacks on many fronts; and background noise provided by high-profile animal rights activists.

You know that sharks are thick in the water when the ultimately fatal breakdown of a steeplechase horse after winning a race in Tennessee makes nationwide news reports, as it did over the weekend. In another year, the incident would have not been mentioned beyond Nashville.

There is bad news on every front:

Racing’s principal stakeholders — owners, trainers and breeders — remain at loggerheads over medication, agreeing that reform is long overdue but disagreeing on its form. The New York Racing Association has fired two former key executives, and most observers await the descent of a second shoe in the form of indictments for what amounts, allegedly, to having subjected the customers to premeditated institutional larceny in the form of illegally elevated takeout rates. NYRA now faces what amounts to an ad hoc takeover by the state. Regulatory incompetence may have contributed mightily to this maelstrom. The attorney general of New York has filed suit against executives of the Thoroughbred Retirement Fund, the oldest of the nation’s many horse rescue organizations, based upon alleged transgressions cited by what the group contends are questionable reports that appeared originally in The New York Times. Churchill Downs Inc., of which the landmark racetrack in Louisville is now more namesake than bedrock income property, is threatening to scale down its racing schedule to the status of “boutique” meetings. The sport battles for survival in Maryland and New Jersey. Kentucky’s racetracks, denied casinos, are essentially sentenced to death. The lunatic fringe of animal rights advocates continues to nip at racing’s heels beneath darkening clouds of potential federal regulatory intervention.

Nothing rekindles debate quite like the spring season, which renews a narrowed mainstream media focus not only on the Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown but in recent years more on racing’s long-festering issues, notably medication. The jaundiced public perception of the sport is only exacerbated by agenda-driven, seasonally convenient news reports designed to provoke reaction rather than offer an accurate, thoughtful depiction of the prevailing climate.

Particularly offensive: The repeated use of the term “doping” in the media is both common and grievously misleading. Medications currently in use and the subject of debate are intended not to produce enhanced performance but to sustain the ability to engage in training and racing. They are not all beneficial to the animal over the long term or always used wisely. But “doping” implies something altogether different, and performance-enhancing substances are already illegal.

Quite likely, the threat of federal regulatory intervention will abate in an election year as politicians concerned more with re-election than Lasix fry bigger fish and the media returns racing to the realm of subjects ignored, but the longstanding issues will not disappear in the face of inaction.

There is a modicum of ivory tower support for a complete ban of race-day medication that sounds well-meant but is in fact impractical, if not irresponsible. The only reasonable approach toward thoughtful reform seen to date is proposed by the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, the leadership of which proposes:

A threshold of two micrograms of phenylbutazone (Bute) in postrace testing for all runners, not just graded stakes horses. Currently, the New York State Racing and Wagering Board rule mandates a 48-hour withdrawal for Bute for all horses.

Elimination of “adjunct” race day medication used in some jurisdictions, notably Kentucky, to prevent exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage. These are not permitted in New York.

A 15-day withdrawal for Depo-Medrol (methylprednisolone acetate). A four-day withdrawal for other corticosteroids.

A seven-day withdrawal for clenbuterol. The current withdrawal period in New York is four days.

Third-party administration of Lasix on race day. Lasix will be administered by veterinarians hired by either the association or the state. This is the current NYRA policy, but would become a state regulation.

(Disclosure: The author is owner of a horse that races in New York and has signed a letter directed to the state racing board in support of these measures.)

Another school of thought contends that withdrawal dates for corticosteroids of any type as well as clenbuterol should be longer than those suggested by NYTHA, if not banned altogether, but every debate requires a starting point. This is not an all-or-nothing issue.

Crime-and-punishment stories will unfold over the course of time. States tend to find ways to sustain their racing industries, if at no more than a subsistence level. Kentucky, without casinos, will find that Churchill Downs is first responsible to shareholders and will watch horsemen and breeding stock move to New York. Rescue organizations, despite criticism, will continue to do good work. Animal rights activists will likely occupy the streets adjacent to the Pimlico backstretch on Saturday and find themselves widely ignored by racing fans. Inside, I’ll Have Another will attempt to move a race closer to the first Triple Crown in 34 years. But the medication issue will linger long after the season of 2012 moves into the summer, fall and toward the Breeders’ Cup.

After most of these plotlines arrive at their conclusions, the discussion of medication reform will remain on the table. Chances are, the debate may last as long as the Triple Crown draught. Unless, that is, I’ll Have Another rises to the occasion.

Two other horses from the Kentucky Derby are Went the Day Well and Creative Cause who are both third choice favorites according to the morning line odds at 6/1.

The Preakness Stakes has six horses from the Kentucky Derby field making the start in the second leg of the Triple Crown. Optimizer, Daddy Nose Best, Creative Cause, Went the Day Well, I’ll Have Another and the favorite Bodemeister are making the return appearance. Making their first start in the Triple Crown are Cozzetti, Zetterholm, Tiger Walk, Teeth of the Dog and Pretension.

Post positions and morning line odds for the 2012 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico in Baltimore, Maryland.