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Preakness champ Cloud Computing might not run in Belmont

By The Sports Xchange
Preakness Stakes winner Cloud Computing, ridden by Javier Castellano, might not run the third leg of the Triple Crown at Belmont. Photo by Mark Abraham/UPI
Preakness Stakes winner Cloud Computing, ridden by Javier Castellano, might not run the third leg of the Triple Crown at Belmont. Photo by Mark Abraham/UPI | License Photo

Cloud Computing, coming off a stunning upset win in the Preakness on Saturday, is uncertain to start in the Belmont Stakes.

Thoroughbred racing could be facing the possibility of a second straight year with three different winners of the Triple Crown races.

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Cloud Computing, at 13-1 odds, became the first horse to skip the Kentucky Derby and win the second leg of the Triple Crown since filly Rachel Alexandra in 2009.

Ridden by jockey Javier Castellano, Cloud Computing chased down Classic Empire in the stretch to win the $1.5 million Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore and end Derby winner Always Dreaming's quest to claim the coveted Triple Crown. The winner ran 1 3/16 miles in 1:55.98.

Trainer Chad Brown said Cloud Computing came out of the race in good shape, but he seemed concerned of running the colt on three weeks' rest or at the 1 1/2-mile distance of the Belmont on June 10.

"Do I think he's a mile-and-a-half horse? He's never really struck me that way, but I'm not going to rule it out," Brown told the Baltimore Sun. "I'll leave it as a possibility right now."

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Cloud Computing, with just four career starts, was already back in Brown's barn at Belmont Park -- 15 hours after the Preakness.

Owners Seth Klarman and William Lawrence, along with Brown, will make a final decision on Cloud Computing's status for the Belmont Stakes by next weekend.

"It has sunk in," the 38-year-old Brown said. "We're thrilled with the result. The horse looks well and our team here is just so happy with the race yesterday."

Trainer Todd Pletcher has not made a Belmont decision for Always Dreaming, who boarded a van to return to New York on Sunday morning.

Pletcher still has no answer why Always Dreaming faded in the Preakness to finish a disappointing eighth.

"Like I kind of cautioned everyone during the week, sometimes you don't know those things until the quarter pole, but everything that we had seen, we were happy with," Pletcher told the Baltimore Sun. "I kind of process through it and say, 'What would I have done differently if I could?' I don't know if there's anything I could have changed."

Preakness runner-up Classic Empire and fourth-place finisher Lookin At Lee are most likely to enter the Belmont and complete all three races of the Triple Crown series.

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