Trainer Jeff Engler announced that Mugatu, who finished fifth in the Blue Grass Stakes on April 6, will make a comeback in the Preakness, accompanied by jockey Joe Bravo.
In the ten-horse Blue Grass field, Mugatu came from last to finish fifth behind the winners of the race, Sierra Leone, Just a Touch, Epic Ride, and Dornoch, all of whom were entered in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs. After finishing seventh in the Blue Grass, Seize the Grey went on to win the Derby undercard Pat Day Mile (G2).
Dan Wells and Average Joe Racing Stables are the owners of Mugatu, a Blofeld son. He broke his maiden at Gulfstream Park by 3 1/4 lengths on Nov. 18 and had run four times over Turfway Park’s synthetic surface without success before the Blue Grass at Keeneland. Although he failed to enter the field, he was the final horse on the Kentucky Derby also-eligible list.
“He’s getting better. He really moved up on the dirt. His numbers proved it. Seize the Grey, who won the Pat Day Mile, we finished in front of him in the Blue Grass. I heard Seize the Grey is going in the Preakness, so it’s a logical spot,” Engler stated. “We were a little frustrated we didn’t get into the Derby. We feel the more distance the better for this horse. I do like the mile and three-sixteenths, so we’re going to head up.”
Before going to Pimlico, Mugatu has to breeze five furlongs on Saturday at Belterra Park.
After being scratched from the Kentucky Derby, Mugato performed a "two-minute lick" at Churchill on Sunday morning, according to Engler, before being shipped to Engler's summer home at Belterra near Cincinnati.
"He finished his last quarter in 23 seconds, and he is just peaking right now," Engler noted. "We know that if there ever is a time to take a shot with him now is the time to do it."