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Concert Tour winning his Jan. 15 debut at Santa Anita
Once uncommon, Kentucky Derby (G1) winners have run against stablemates more often in the Preakness Stakes (G1) in recent years. It is likely to happen again Saturday when Bob Baffert trainees Medina Spirit and Concert Tour are scheduled to face each other at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md.
Zedan Racing s Medina Spirit quickly grabbed the lead in the Derby on May 1 and held on to finish first by a half-length in an exciting four-horse finish. Concert Tour was at Churchill Downs that day, too, but he was in his stall, a few hundred yards from the finish line. Baffert and owner Gary West had decided not to enter him in the race after he had finished a disappointing third in the Arkansas Derby (G1) on April 10.
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In a recent radio interview, I was asked if I considered myself to be “The Dean of Kentucky Derby Journalists.” I had to admit that I had never thought about it like that.
Billy Reed
But since I don’t think there’s anybody around who has covered more than my 52, I guess maybe I am Dean Reed, with a Ph. D in Derbyology. Has a kind of nice ring to it, right?
If I am to assume this lofty position, I must do it seriously because my main responsibility will be to guard the Derby’s history, both the good and bad of it. And there has been some bad, which almost goes along with being the world’s most famous horse race, an event that generates millions of gambling dollars worldwide.