I'll Have Another Heads for New York

I'll Have Another left Pimlico early Sunday morning on a van and headed for the Big Apple. At this point, all systems are go for the Belmont on June 9, and perhaps the first Triple Crown in 34 years. Bodemeister is back in California probably resting up for the Haskell and if all goes well, the Travers and Breeders Cup.

According to O'Neill, I'll Have Another came out of the Preakness perfectly; ate up his dinner and seemed to have excess energy. His legs were cool when he removed the poultices, so all things pointed to New York. O'Neill himself returned home to California to check on the rest of his horses and most likely will return to New York in about a week.

In the meantime, the plan is to train I'll Have Another the same way he trained for the Preakness: easy gallops to get him used to the surface and nothing too strenuous.

Now that there is a Triple Crown at stake, the rest of the field will make itself known. Don't be surprised if many of them are horses that have not raced in the first two legs such as Paynter, also trained by Bob Baffert, who had an impressive win in an allowance race on the Preakness undercard.

It's an exciting time to be a racing fan!