Mugatu is possible to compete in the $2 million, Grade 1 Preakness Stakes on May 18 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.
The post position draw for the Preakness is set for Monday, May 13, at 5:30 p.m. Post time for the Preakness is set for 6:50 p.m. Saturday, May 18. NBC will televise the race.
Mugatu will enter the Preakness off a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes on April 6 at Keeneland.
Mugatu
Color: Chestnut
Bred in: Kentucky
Sire: Blofeld
Dam: Union Way, by Union Rags
Price tag: $14,000 at 2023 Ocala Breeders’ Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training
Owners: Average Joe Racing Stables (Christopher Britton), Dan Wells
Trainer: Jeff Engler
Jockey: Joe Bravo
Record: 1-1-3 in 12 starts
Career earnings: $80,570
Last race: Fifth in Grade 1 Blue Grass on April 6 at Keeneland
Running style: Stalker
Notes: Needed five races to break his maiden, doing so on Nov. 18 at Gulfstream Park, and hasn’t won since then. Hasn’t finished among the top two in his past seven races. … Mugatu was on the also-eligible list for the Kentucky Derby but didn’t make the race. … The sire Blofeld won 4 of 14 starts from 2014-17. He won a trio of Grade 2 stakes: Futurity, Nashua and Gulfstream Park Handicap. … Mugatu is named after Jacobim Mugatu, a character in the movie “Zoolander.”
What they’re saying: “We got with each other, the owners, and bounced some names around,” Britton said of the horse’s name. “It came down to Mugatu, which some people liked because they liked that ‘Zoolander’ movie, and there were a couple of us who like Mr. Blojangles, because he was by Blofeld. Mugatu ended up winning the shake, you could say.”
More horse racing: What date and time is the Preakness Stakes 2024? What to know on horses, odds, how to watch
Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com. Follow on X @KentuckyDerbyCJ.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Preakness 2024 horse Mugatu trainer, owner, jockey and record
