BALTIMORE — Love the horse. Love I’ll Have Another the way jockey Mario Gutierrez loves him. Sure, the colt has changed the young rider’s life, brought him out of the morning shadows of Santa Anita Park, where he worked horses for trainers who did not care to know his name, and into America’s living rooms for the first two legs of the Triple Crown .
I’ll Have Another has given Gutierrez the ride of his young life, but sitting in the saddle, still out of breath, after he and his colt ran down Bodemeister in the final strides of the 137th Preakness Stakes on Saturday, he wanted everyone to know he had little to do with the improbable last two weeks.
He wanted them to know what Gutierrez knew the first time he climbed on I’ll Have Another’s back.
What he knew before he won the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago at Churchill Downs. He wanted them to know what every good rider knows no matter if he is a bush track jockey like him from the backwoods of Canada’s Hastings Racecourse or a Hall of Famer like Mike Smith, who was aboard Bodemeister: you know a transcendent horse when you get on him.
“He’s just a great horse,” Gutierrez, 25, said. “I believe in him because I’m on him.”
Now there are a great many people who believe in I’ll Have Another, starting with the 121,309 here Saturday who watched as he made up nearly four lengths in the stretch to collar Bodemeister at the wire and win by a neck. It was how the colt did it that was remarkable — legs reaching and clawing with every stride, Gutierrez in rhythm atop him like a beating heart.
The colt is scheduled to head up Interstate 95 in the morning to Belmont Park, where he will try to become the 12th horse to sweep the Triple Crown, horse racing’s holy grail, and the first one since Affirmed did so in 1978.
Eleven horses in the last 34 years have pulled into Belmont Park with a shot to win the crown — the last was Big Brown in 2008. They all failed, but Gutierrez wants all to believe that I’ll Have Another is different. The colt is 4 for 4 this year — all in stakes races and in none was he the favorite. I’ll Have Another was not the betting public’s choice here Saturday, either. Smith and Bodemeister were sent off at odds of nearly 2-1 on the strength of a courageous run in the Derby, where Bodemeister led the field through wicked fractions but was caught in deep stretch by I’ll Have Another.
Gutierrez and his colt were granted generous 3-1 odds on the notion that the kid rider had gotten a perfect trip in a crowded field at Churchill Downs.
Not here, not now, was history going to repeat itself. Bodemeister was the lone speed horse. He wouldn’t have to go so fast. Gutierrez would have to use his smarts rather than his soft hands to earn his trip to New York.
As Smith and Bodemeister bounded out to an easy lead under leisurely fractions of 1 minute 11.72 seconds for six furlongs, Gutierrez didn’t look too smart.
He was spotting Bodemeister too many lengths — or at least that was what Smith thought. “I had slowed down the pace and had plenty of horse,” Smith said.
Even I’ll Have Another’s trainer, Doug O’Neill, was worried. “I was concerned, but Mario was keeping him in the clear,” he said.
As Bodemeister led the field of 11 into the far turn, Gutierrez and his colt cut inside and got behind Creative Cause, who had been tracking in second place. Still, Bodemeister’s trainer, Bob Baffert, was not worried. He thought Smith was sitting on a monster.
“I felt really good where he was,” Baffert said of Bodemeister. “It looked like he was traveling nicely.”
In an instant, Gutierrez dropped his reins and put his head down to urge on his colt. I’ll Have Another rounded the turn as if fired from a slingshot. When horse and rider hit the quarter pole, I’ll Have Another squared his shoulders and took aim at Bodemeister, who was gliding down the stretch as if on a conveyor belt.
Atop I’ll Have Another, Gutierrez knew something extraordinary was about to happen. He was flush with the feeling that he was merely a passenger on a winged horse.
“No one put him in this race,” he said with a mix of appreciation and disbelief. “He put himself into the race.”
In the stretch, I’ll Have Another was unleashing one ground-gobbling stride after another. The distance between him and Bodemeister was narrowing in a hurry.
“I knew we were going to be in a dogfight,” the colt’s owner, Paul Reddam, said.
Gutierrez was not worried at all.
“He has a tremendous kick,” he said. “He’s more smarter than I am, so he just wait for me until I ask him.”
The no-name jockey asked. The great horse answered. I’ll Have Another reached Bodemeister’s throat latch two strides before the wire. He was by him on the next one.
The numbers are impressive, but soulless. I’ll Have Another covered the mile and three-sixteenths in 1:55.94 and earned Reddam a $600,000 first-place check, pushing the colt’s career earnings past $2.6 million. A bettor who loved I’ll Have Another as much as Gutierrez was rewarded $8.40 for a $2 bet.
But the jockey understood who really earned their trip to New York and a shot at the elusive crown.
“This is not about me,” Gutierrez said.
For two minutes at least, it was not about O’Neill, the trainer with a long list of drug violations who had run afoul of regulators in four states and earned stern words from the Humane Society over the weekend.
No, Gutierrez wanted people to appreciate the gift that had been given to him as much as he does. He loves his horse. He wants everyone else to love him as well.
“He’s an amazing horse,” he said again.
Believe him.
On the 138th running of The Kentucky Derby,I'll Have Another (Horse #19), did just that. He rounded the final turn and into the straight stretch to come from behind and cross the finish line, to win. The placement for first and second place at the 2012 Preakness Stakes could have been a replay of the  earlier this month as '''''' came in first with '''''' behind in second.  In this race, Creative Cause finished third.

By winning the Kentucky Derby and the 137th Preakness Stakes, '''I'll Have Another''' has a chance at winning the US  of thoroughbred horse racing. The final race '''I'll Have Another''' would have to win is the , which will be held on June 9.

'''I'll Have Another''' was not favored to win the Preakness Stakes and his odds were set at 3-1. '''Bodemeister''', who was the favorite at 2-1 odds, was the speed horse again as he led the field for most of the race just as he did at the Kentucky Derby. This time, '''Creative Cause''' was following close behind in second by the time the field of horses reached the far turn.  Just as in the Kentucky Derby, '''I'll Have Another''' pushed faster in the final leg of the race. However, the Preakness Stakes finish was closer with '''I'll Have Another''' squeezing by the pacesetter at the very end to win the race in 1:56.9.

Mexican jockey  has won his last four races with '''I'll Have Another'''. He gave '''I'll Have Another''' the credit for the finish, "No one put him in this race. He put himself into the race," he said. Gutierrez said all he had to do was signal to the horse that it was time to challenge '''Bodemeister''' and the horse did the rest.

The winning horse is owned by financier  and trained by .

The  in , Maryland was filled with a crowd of 121,309 to watch the Triple Crown hopeful. The last horse to win the Triple Crown was  in 1978.

'''THE HORSES'''

According to the official Pimlico website, the horses that competed this year in the Preakness Stakes by starting position include:

1. '''Tiger Walk''' is owned by , trained by Ignacio Correas IV, and was ridden by .

2. '''Teeth of the Dog''' is owned by J.W. Singer. The thoroughbred is trained by  and the jockey was .

3. '''Pretension''' was the winner of the 2012 . The horse is owned by Kidwells Petite Stable, trained by Christopher W. Grove, and was raced by Javier Santiago.

4. '''Zetterholm''' is owned by Winter Park Partners, trained by , and ridden by Junior Alvarado.

5. '''Went The Day Well''' is owned by  and is trained by . His jockey was . This team won last year's Kentucky Derby race with , and they took Went The Day Well to the 2012 Kentucky Derby. 

6. '''Creative Cause''' is owned by Heinz Steinmann and trained by Mike Harrington. His jockey was be . Creative Cause was part of the field at the Kentucky Derby, too.

7. '''Bodemeister''', winner of the  at Oaklawn Park, is trained by . He is owned by  and his jockey was .

8. '''Daddy Nose Best''' was the winner of the  at Sunland Park and the  at Golden Gate and raced in the 2012 Kentucky Derby. He is owned by Cathy and Bob Zollars, trained by . His jockey was .

9. '''I'll Have Another''' was the winner of the Kentucky Derby at . He is owned by financier J. Paul Reddam, trained by Doug O'Neill and ridden by jockey Mario Gutierrez.

10. '''Optimizer''' is trained by , owned by tobacconist  of Bluegrass Hall LLC and ridden by . This horse raced also raced in the Kentucky Derby.

11. '''Cozzetti''' is trained by  and was raced by  The horse is owned by Albaugh Family Stables.