In 2005 the Candy Stripes colt Leroidesanimaux was going into the Breeders' Cup Mile with on the hotest streak for that year (with the exception of Lost in the Fog of course). A win would be a guarenteed Eclipse Award at the end of the year. Somebody forgot to tell El Prado's son Artie Schiller, who upset Leroi to deny him the win. Although Leroi would end up winning Turf Male Eclipse in the end. Here is an interesting sub-plot to this story, riding Leroi on that day was John Velesquez and Garrett Gomez who picked up the mount after Artie's normal rider Richard Migliore was injured.
Fast Foward to 2011, Johnny V wins the Derby on a son of Leroi's Animal Kingdom. He could be met in the Preakness... a son of Artie's. Mr. Commons is coming off a 3rd place finish against Midnight Interlude and Comma to the Top in the Santa Anita Derby. It's doubtful that Garrett will ride (he's trained by John Shirreffs, so more then likely Mike Smith will be the rider in the race), though. Mr. Commons could be the one that will be the freshest of the new shooters as he has not run since the SA Derby. That could be something that either helps or hurts him in the long run of things.
It will be interesting if Artie can once again upset Leroi.
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