Great White drew post 13 in the field of 14 3-year-olds for this year’s Preakness S. (G1), which is being run Saturday at Laurel Park as Pimlico undergoes renovations.
The 3-year-old Volatile colt, a Three Chimneys homebred co-owned with trainer John Ennis, was on the Kentucky Derby also-eligible list, then drew into the race, but was ultimately scratched due to an incident behind the starting gate.
“It’s just one of those things,” Three Chimneys vice chair Doug Cauthen told the Blood-Horse this week. “The main thing is the safety of the horse. Obviously, they did the right thing scratching him, even though he was fine. But you don’t really know that until you check him out further. It was an unfortunate circumstance, but, hey, maybe it was meant to be, so he could come fresh to the Preakness.”
Since Derby day, Great White has had one maintenance workout on May 9th at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Kentucky, where Ennis is based.
Great White earned black type with a win over fellow Derby entrant and graded winner Fulleffort in the John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway Park in February. He will be making just his second start on dirt in the Preakness.
In the Preakness, Great White will face 13, including Ocelli, who was third in the Derby, along with Incredibolt and Robusta, both whom were unplaced in the Run for the Roses.
Great White will be ridden Saturday by Alex Achard, his jockey in all four of his starts. Post time for the middle jewel of the Triple Crown is 7:01 pm ET.
Volatile, currently third on the 2026 Third-Crop sire list, has had two Grade 1 winners this month: T O Elvis, who set a stakes record in the $1 million Churchill Downs S. (G1), and Come Candela, a Grade 1 winner in Latin American on May 3rd.
