According to reports, the Todd Pletcher-trained pair of Materiality and Carpe Diem will skip the May 16th Preakness Stakes (gr. I) and instead await the June 6th Belmont Stakes (gr. I) at Belmont Park.
Both colts are grade I winners, with Materiality having scored a victory in the Florida Derby and Carpe Diem having won both the Blue Grass Stakes and Breeders’ Futurity. However, both disappointed slightly in the May 2nd Kentucky Derby (gr. I), with Materiality getting away to a poor start and rallying for sixth place while Carpe Diem tracked the pace before tiring to finish tenth. Rather than run right back in the Preakness on two weeks of rest, the colts will instead be rested and pointed toward the Belmont, a race that Todd Pletcher has won twice in the last eight years.
Their defections will leave the Preakness with an expected field of seven, led by Kentucky Derby 1-2-3 finishers American Pharoah, Firing Line, and Dortmund. The other probable starters are Danzig Moon, fifth in the Derby; Divining Rod, winner of the Lexington Stakes (gr. III); Bodhisattva, winner of the Federico Tesio Stakes; and Tale of Verve, a recent maiden winner at Keeneland.
Entries for the Preakness will be taken on May 13th, with post positions being drawn later in the day.
