Triple Crown betting: Filly Ria Antonia running in Preakness Stakes?

While all the focus on the May 17 Preakness Stakes, the second leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown Betting , is on horse racing odds-on favorite California Chrome, the winner of the Kentucky Derby, there could be a female to crash the usually all-male party.

 

That would be Ria Antonia, who plans to take a shot at the boys May 17 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. Majority owner Ron Paolucci confirmed the news after Ria Antonia galloped Tuesday morning at Churchill Downs for trainer Tom Amoss, not Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, who trained her leading up to the Oaks.
If the daughter of Rockport Harbor is shipped to Pimlico Race Course to run in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown on May 17, she will be saddled for the first time by Amoss. Ron Paolucci’s Loooch Racing Stable and Christopher T. Dunn have transferred their 3-year-old filly from Baffert to Amoss after her distant sixth-place finish behind Untapable in the Kentucky Oaks the day before the Kentucky Derby.

 

Should Ria Antonia take on the boys, she would attempt to become the sixth filly to capture the Preakness. Fillies to win the Preakness include Rachel Alexandra (2009), Nellie Morse (1924), Rhine Maiden (1915), Whimsical (1906) and Flocarline (1903).

 

Then trained by Jeremiah Englehart, Ria Antonia finished second by a nose in last November’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita but was declared the winner upon the disqualification of She’s a Tiger for interference in the stretch. She finished fourth in the Fair Grounds’ Grade III Rachel Alexandra won by Kentucky Oaks winner Untapable and was transferred to Baffert to race in California. Ria Antonia was second as the favorite on horse racing odds in the Santa Anita Oaks but was beaten almost 16 lengths by Untapable in the Kentucky Oaks.

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