Chelokee is a fitting winner in Barbaro Stakes

BALTIMORE —  The result of the ninth race at Pimlico on Saturday, on Preakness day, sounded like a setup. Actually, it was a nice moment.

The race was called the Barbaro Stakes, named for the Kentucky Derby winner who broke down in the first 200 yards of last year’s Preakness, went through nine months of surgery and healing for his shattered right hind leg, and eventually had to be put down because of complications from the injury.

Barbaro was a national story for much of last year. A $100,000 race on Preakness day was named for him before he died, with the hope that he could walk out before and be saluted by the crowd.

That couldn’t happen, but the next best thing did. A horse named Chelokee, trained by Michael Matz, who had trained Barbaro and lived the drama all year, won easily.

Matz had pondered running Chelokee in the Preakness, but he said later, “I’m glad we decided to run in the race. Right now, I’m elated. I couldn’t be happier.”

Barbaro’s owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, were on hand to present the trophy in the winner’s circle, and Roy Jackson said the obvious afterward.

“We’re very, very grateful that it turned out the way it did,” he said.

The jockey who rode Barbaro to his Derby victory and was credited with helping keep him stabilized in the immediate aftermath of the accident, was second in the Barbaro Stakes. Edgar Prado rode Silver Express and said, “The other horse was just better.”

*

The same three horses finishing 1-2-3 in the first two legs of the Triple Crown may add a bit of a spark to a once-again anticlimactic Belmont Stakes on June 9. That is, if all three show up.

All three trainers are playing that somewhat close to the vest.

Curlin’s Steve Asmussen left immediately after the race and had his horse set to be shipped back to Louisville, Ky., first thing today. He said he would see how the horse came through the Preakness.

Street Sense’s Carl Nafzger seemed the most reluctant.

“I’ll talk to [owner] Mr. Tafel,” Nafzger said, “but if I were a betting man, I’d take some bets against it.”

Said Larry Jones, who trains Hard Spun, second in the Derby and third in the Preakness: “I don’t know. We’ll discuss it. His mother was a stakes winner at a mile and a half [the Belmont distance].”

*

Street Sense has finished in the money in every one of his nine career races, and Curlin has won four of five.

“The only guy to beat Curlin is me,” Nafzger said. “Curlin ran a heck of a race today, but I’ll beat him next time.”

*

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

bill.dwyre@latimes.com