Derby winner Mine That Bird a go for Preakness

5/4/2009

BALTIMORE A Pimlico spokesman says Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird will run in the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore on May 16.

Mine That Bird won the Derby at 50-1 odds Saturday. Trainer Bennie Woolley Jr. said Sunday he would need a few days to decide whether to send the 3-year-old gelding to the second leg of the Triple Crown.

Pimlico vice president Mike Gathagan said Monday that Woolley called to say Mine That Bird is on for the Preakness. Gathagan was told plans call for Mine That Bird to be shipped to Baltimore from Churchill Downs on May 11 or 12.

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.