Preakness trainers talk pace and early position

Edited Press Release

Gary Sherlock, trainer of Uncle Lino -- "I'll be on the lead. I don't know if any of the outside horses will jump over and go fast enough to be second or third. I think Nyquist will be laying and tracking me, whether that's second or somebody on the outside is there and he's a little bit behind. Then hope we keep going.

"He's that way anyway, but when you're outside you can see what's happening. Now we have no choice. But there is no speed inside of him, so off we go."

Bob Baffert, trainer of Collected -- "The break is going to be the key. Uncle Lino is speed. Nyquist is going to go. Collected, he's got to go. Laoban, I don't know what they're going to do with him. They took the blinkers off, but you never know what's going to happen there. And you've got Stradivari. He's on the outside. He's going to be up there close. He's got to get down there because he doesn't want to lose too much ground, but stay in the clear because his horse is lightly raced.

"I think whoever wins the break is going to have a little bit of an edge there early. My horse got away bad in the Southwest (G3), got behind horses and didn't respond well. It's going to be an honest pace."

Ned Allard, trainer of Abiding Star -- "So far this horse has always made a relatively easy lead. It's been catch me if you can, and no one's caught him lately. With that being said, tomorrow's race has three or four horses that could do exactly the same thing. I don't want the rider to put him on the lead and burn him up to get there. He's just going to have to use his judgment and play it by ear."

Eric Guillot, trainer of Laoban -- "I finally had some time and looked at the (past performances) last night. I'm still one of the fastest horses in the race. Just because I took the blinkers off doesn't mean he's going to be farther back.

"In the mud, speed's dangerous. I don't care if you go two furlongs or two miles, it's always dangerous. I'm going to tell [jockey Florent Geroux] to ride him with confidence and use his best judgment; don't get him stopped, brush your teeth before they take your picture."

Todd Pletcher, trainer of Stradivari -- "We'll be where Johnny (Velazquez) wants to tuck in, going to the first turn. That's one of the advantages to drawing outside, you can take a little while to see how the race is unfolding inside of you instead of having to commit one way or the other.

"Ideally we want to get a smooth run. He's a lightly raced horse with less experience than a lot of the other runners, so we don't want to get into any complicated positions. But the main thing is to get into a nice, steady rhythm going into the first turn and allow him to get into his cruising speed, which seems to be a pretty high and comfortable cruising speed, and take it from there."

Mark Casse, trainer of Fellowship -- "I would like to see him in a spot where he is comfortable. In the Pat Day Mile, we pushed him a little early because speed was holding and took a little of his crunch away. I think we could have been second (if he hadn't been used early), but nobody was going to beat the winner (Sharp Azteca). I don't think that will happen tomorrow."

Dale Romans, trainer of Cherry Wine -- "I see a mad dash into the first turn -- we'll be galloping. Nyquist coming out of the turn in front heading down the backside, everybody pushing him. They'll start to fall off. I see Cherry Wine skimming the rail, picking up horses around the three-eighths pole. As Nyquist wears them all down, they start to flounder a little at the quarter pole. By the eighth pole we're in second. Then they hit the wire together. Wait to see the photo."