Why He Could Win

• Art Collector (5-2) – Owner Bruce Lunsford/trainer Tommy Drury, Jr./jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr.
• Race record: 9: 5-1-0, earnings of $664,380

Bernardini colt enters the Preakness on as much of a heater as just about any runner here, having won all four of his 2020 starts after a juvenile season that was just so-so…

He’s recorded three consecutive Beyer speed figs of 100+ — the only runner in the field to have done so…

Has shown the ability to set fast fractions and stay on, stalk the pace, or even close, as he did winning an allowance May 17. He led throughout to win the Ellis Park Derby, and the race before that, he stalked the early pace before surging clear in the G2 Blue Grass, in which he beat Swiss Skydiver…

Hasn’t really been challenged in any of his wins this year, so no one knows where the bottom might be. Though he’s never gone this far, he’s drawn away smartly in the final furlong of his two tries at nine furlongs…

Why He Could Lose

Despite the big figs, this’ll be his first try against Grade 1 company and just his second against graded company of any sort…

May not have been the greatest group in the Ellis Park Derby: the three who went from there to the Kentucky Derby all finished ninth or worse…

First Preakness for trainer Drury and just the third for rider Hernandez. His two previous mounts finished sixth and ninth…

Probably will ultimately cede the lead to Authentic, then need to run that one down…

Connections confident that his foot troubles are behind him, but it also means this’ll be his first start in nearly two months…

What They’re Saying About Him

“We wanted to make sure we did enough today,” trainer Tommy Drury said after Art Collector worked five-eighths in 59 2/5 seconds September 19 at Churchill Downs. “They had him in 59-and-change, and I had him three-quarters (of a mile) in 1:12. It was what we were looking for. We went a little longer between races than we’d hoped to be. We just wanted to make sure we’re where we want to be. Leading up to the race from here, now you’re just kind of back on a maintenance program. You know you’ve got him where you want him, and hopefully we’ll be on the flight the Tuesday before the Preakness (G1) and we’ll take our best shot.”

It was Art Collector’s second of three works since missing the Derby. He sandwiched the September 19 move with half-mile works September 12 and September 26.

Though disappointed about missing the Derby, Drury has been philosophical.

“If you’d asked me in January, ‘You’ve got a shot to go to the Preakness, what do you think about that?’ I’d have been doing backflips,” he said. “… He seems like he’s going into it the right way, and now we’ve just got to stay out of his way a little longer.”

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