Report: Derby winner may skip Preakness

LOUISVILLE, Ky., May 3 (UPI) -- Mine That Bird, the surprise winner at the Kentucky Derby, is not committed to run at the Preakness, co-owner Mark Allen said Sunday morning.

The long shot winner of the first jewel in horse racing's Triple Crown will undergo tests before his status is determined for the race at Pimlico in Baltimore May 16.

"If he's doing good, we will run," Allen said on the Daily Racing Form's Web site. "We'll run some blood work on him, make sure it's where it should be."

Allen co-owns Mine That Bird with Dr. Leonard Blach, a veterinarian from Roswell, N.M.

Allen said if Mine That Bird, a small-sized gelding, had not won the Derby, the 1 3/16-mile Preakness wouldn't even be under consideration.

"The plan was that if he showed something (at the Derby), skip the Preakness and go to the Belmont, like his dad," Allen said.

The Belmont, the Triple Crown's last leg, is June 6 at Elmont, N.Y.