{"id":8952,"date":"2016-05-20T08:00:27","date_gmt":"2016-05-20T15:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/feisty-lani-to-be-first-japan-based-horse-in-preakness\/"},"modified":"2016-05-20T08:00:27","modified_gmt":"2016-05-20T15:00:27","slug":"feisty-lani-to-be-first-japan-based-horse-in-preakness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/feisty-lani-to-be-first-japan-based-horse-in-preakness\/","title":{"rendered":"Feisty Lani to be first Japan-based horse in Preakness"},"content":{"rendered":"

BALTIMORE<\/strong> \u2014 In the weeks leading up to the Kentucky Derby, Japan-based Lani acted like a tourist on vacation.<\/p>\n

The feisty gray colt displayed an amorous eye for passing fillies, often whinnied loudly upon exiting his stall and occasionally refused to budge during workouts.<\/p>\n

All of this would have been cause for concern for his handlers if the temperamental bad boy didn\u2019t charge to a ninth-place finish in the Derby after being bumped at the outset.<\/p>\n

Now, after a calming two weeks at Belmont Park in New York, Lani is poised to make a run at greatness in the Preakness on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince he left Japan for this trip, I would say that he is in the best form right now,\u201d said Keita Tanaka, the agent for owner Koji Maeda.<\/p>\n

Lani earned the right to compete for the Triple Crown by winning the 1 3\/16-mile U.A.E. Derby on March 26 in Dubai. The plan was to run Lani in the Kentucky Derby and skip the Preakness for the Belmont, but his showing in Lexington caused trainer Mikio Matsunaga to change the itinerary.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t want a long gap between races,\u201d said Soshi Inoue, spokesman for Matsunaga. \u201cIt was a good option to be here. (Matsunaga) feels we have a great chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lani\u2019s behavior at Belmont Park \u2014 where there are fewer horses, a quieter atmosphere and a wider track \u2014 provided Matsunaga reason to believe his entrant has a shot at spoiling Nyquist\u2019s bid for a Triple Crown.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe likes the barn and the track since arriving here, so the training is on plan,\u201d Tanaka said from New York. \u201cHe\u2019s been better behaved since he\u2019s been here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inoue insisted that Lani\u2019s excitable personality isn\u2019t necessarily a 24-7 thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not always like that,\u201d Inoue said. \u201cBut it\u2019s his character. We are not concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lani will be the first Japan-based horse to run in the Preakness. His jockey, as it was in the Kentucky Derby, will be 16-time Japanese champion Yutaka Take.<\/p>\n

Lani will break from the No. 6 post for the 1 3\/16-mile race at Pimlico Race Course.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wanted the outside draw and No. 6 is technically outside, so he is pretty much satisfied,\u201d said Inoue, who spoke with Matsunaga by telephone after Wednesday\u2019s draw was announced. Matsunaga was at Belmont Park with Lani, who was to be shipped to Baltimore early Thursday.<\/p>\n

Rain is expected on Saturday, but that would not dampen the chances of Lani, who was sired by the Grade I winner Tapit.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Matsunaga) wanted a fast track but isn\u2019t concerned about having to run on a muddy track,\u201d Inoue said.<\/p>\n

Rain or shine, quirky or business-like, Lani will make this unplanned run through Baltimore before heading back to New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as we came to the U.S., I want to participate in all legs of the Triple Crown,\u201d Tanaka said. \u201cThe Preakness was not planned before the Derby, but he came out of the Derby OK in good condition, and so we have decided to have him run at Pimlico.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BALTIMORE \u2014 In the weeks leading up to the Kentucky Derby, Japan-based Lani acted like a tourist on vacation. The feisty gray colt displayed an amorous eye for passing fillies, often whinnied loudly upon exiting his stall and occasionally refused to budge during workouts. All of this would have been cause for concern for his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-8952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8952\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8952"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=8952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}