preakness weakness?

Winner of the Kentucky Derby, Mine That Bird, may put an end to triple crown speculation before the press machine could get momentum. ESPN's Jay Privman reports "'The plan was that if he showed something here, to skip the Preakness and go to the Belmont, like his dad,' [Co-owner Mark] Allen said. Mine That Bird is a son of Birdstone, who won the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes in 2004." The last Derby winner to skip the Preakness was an injured Grindstone in 1996. The last healthy Derby winner to miss it was Spend A Buck in 1985.

Mine That Bird was a 51-1 shot at the 113th Kentucky Derby. A $103.20 return was the second most in Derby history (only a 1913 $184.90 by Donerail was larger). Mine That Bird represents the second biggest upset in all the runnings of the Derby's history. This is one of the biggest upsets in sports history. 3 year-old colt I Want Revenge, the favorite to win the race, was scratched the morning of after his trainer discovered a hot spot on his left ankle.

Now, instead of hyping another run for the triple crown at the Preakness Stakes, the press will have another quesiton to ask: will the triple crown even be possible? Only Mine That Bird, itself, can answer, writes Privman:

"We'll let the horse tell us," Allen, who owns Mine That Bird with Dr. Leonard Blach, said Sunday morning as a light rain fell at Churchill Downs. "We'll run some blood work on him, make sure it's where it should be."

Update 5/4/2009:
Mine That Bird will run the Preakness after a spirited jog this afternoon.

"He's not going to just jump up and be the favorite off one win," [Trainer Bennie] Woolley Jr. said. "But I'll bet he's not 50-1."