The news on two new potential Preakness shooters wasn't good on Tuesday. Both A Little Warm and Bushwhacked are fighting high temperatures that have kept them out of training for three days.
A Little Warm, which finished first or second in six of seven career starts, is trained by Tony Dutrow, son of the legendary conditioner Dickie Dutrow. Tony grew up on the backside at Laurel Park, and was a leading trainer in Maryland himself before moving his operation to Philadelphia Park and Delaware Park. If he runs in the Preakness, A Little Warm would be Dutrow's first Triple Crown starter. The colt finished second in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby.
Bushwhacked had a temperature of 103 on Monday, when his trainer, Jonathan Sheppard issued this perspective: "We are going to be very cautious with him, and with a race as important as the Preakness only two weeks away, we will have to see. We are looking for improvement, but right now it appears the race is unlikely."