Preakness 150: Keep It Easy Cutting Back for Return in $150,000 Chick Lang

By David Joseph —-

Keep It Easy Cutting Back for Return in $150,000 Chick Lang

BALTIMORE – Trainer Dale Romans has some advice for people handicapping the 50th running of the listed $150,000 Chick Lang Saturday at Pimlico Race Course: don’t overlook Keep It Easy.

Since the colt owned by St. Elias Stable and West Point Thoroughbreds was eased and finished last in his most recent start, the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth (G2) March 1 at Gulfstream Park, he could be a quick toss. Romans figures that would be a mistake.

“He is a good horse,” Romans said. “He came out of his last race with a little hind leg bugging him so he should run big. He did not have to be off that long, but he didn’t get to train hard. He is fit and ready. He ran well off the bench at Churchill last year.”

Rated at 4-1, Keep It Easy is the second choice on the morning line in a field of 11 that will line up for the six-furlong contest on dirt for 3-year-olds. He will leave from Post 6 under Kentucky Derby (G1) winning jockey Junior Alvarado. The 7-2 program favorite is Tom Morley-trained One Nine Hundred. Perfect Force, trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, is next at 9-2.

Keep It Easy, a son of Hard Spun out of the English Channel mare Boxwood, was purchased for $435,000 as a yearling. He won two of four starts as a 2-year-old and opened his 3-year-old season in the Fountain of Youth, his first try around two turns. Romans figures he will bounce back in the Chick Lang.

“He is just talented,” Romans said. “He has it all. He has pedigree, looks and speed. That’s all you need. The six furlongs is right up his alley. He is probably a one-turn horse. I think he will stretch farther than six furlongs, but at the end of the day he is probably a one-turn horse.”

The Chick Lang is among 10 stakes, five graded, worth $3.3 million in purses on a blockbuster 14-race program anchored by the 150th Preakness Stakes (G1), Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown. First race post time is 10:30 a.m. ET.

One Nine Hundred, a son of Dialed In, broke his maiden by seven lengths on March 29 at Aqueduct and will be making his stakes debut. Co-owned by Steven Rocco, Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Adelphi Racing Club, One Nine Hundred drew Post 8. He will be ridden for the first time by Flavien Prat.

BC Stables’ Perfect Force, a son of Gun Runner, finished fifth in the Pat Day Mile (G2) on May 3. It took the colt a while to break his maiden for Lukas, but after getting over that hurdle in his seventh start, he promptly won an optional claimer Oaklawn and finished third to Preakness runner Clever Again in the $200,000 Hot Springs.

“He’s been right there in those sprint races at Oaklawn,” Lukas said. “He’s pretty fit.”

On Your Left Racing’s Minnesota-bred Chipotle will race for the first time since being gelded. The son of Mitole has won three of his seven starts.

“He won a one-other-than at Laurel back in January,” trainer Michael Gorham said. “We gave him a little time and he’s just coming back off the layoff. He’s been breezing good. He actually breezed really good [May 8] at Delaware, a good, sharp half-mile [in a bullet 48.40 seconds] and galloped out real strong, so he’s doing pretty good.”

Gorham said Chipotle has gained experience and become a more consistent runner.

“I’ve had him the whole time,” Gorham said. “He got to the lead and won first time out and then he had a couple of trips where he didn’t get to the front and he was up against it where he was still a little green and he didn’t run that well. Then he came back and started running good. He was a good fourth at Laurel and then he was second before the two wins.”

Four Sons Stable and Red Gate Racing’s Normandy Coas, won the off-the-turf Palisades at Keeneland on April 6, a month after a tough outing in the Gotham (G3), where he stumbled at the start and was eventually eased.

“He’s doing super,” trainer Eddie Kenneally said of the colt that worked a sharp half mile on May 9. “He’s doing great. We’re happy.”

Rounding out the field are Repole Stables’ Ancient World, an Into Mischief colt, who has won both of his starts for Joe Sharp; Richard Burnsworth’s Faster Gator, second by a head in the Bay Shore on April 19 at Aqueduct; Retribution, trained by Cherie DeVaux for Belladonna Racing LLC, Twin Brook Stables, Woodford Racing LLC, B.C.W.T. Ltd., Savvy Stables, GRC Racing LLC and Taylor Creek; Three Chimney Farms’ Touchy, who is adding blinkers; High Schticking Thoroughbreds’ Tiny Lake, a twice-claimed gelding who has finished first or second in his last six starts; and Eric Rizer’s homebred Slam Notion, who is stepping into a stake after five straight strong outings.