I'll Have Another heads to NY for Belmont Stakes after Preakness win
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}May 19, 2012: Jockey Mario Gutierrez, aboard I'll Have Another, is greeted by horse masseuse Larry "Thumper" Jones, left, while outrider Clark Casey looks on after winning the 137th Preakness Stakes horse race at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. (AP)
I'll Have Another came out of the Preakness in "super" shape, and trainer Doug O'Neill says it's on to New York for a Triple Crown try in the Belmont Stakes.
While O'Neill was heading back to California on Sunday, a bright and healthy looking I'll Have Another was loaded onto a van for the trip to Belmont Park, where he will prepare for the 1 1/2-mile Belmont on June 9.
O'Neill said I'll Have Another "licked his feed tub clean" and the trainer "definitely feels the energy and buzz in the air" about a Triple try.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Bring it on," O'Neill said outside his barn Sunday morning.
I'll Have Another edged Bodemeister by a neck in the Preakness on Saturday. Two weeks earlier he defeated the same rival by 1 1/2 lengths in the Derby. A win in the Belmont would make him the 12th Triple Crown champion, and the first since Affirmed in 1978.