Shackleford came out of the the Kentucky Derby (G1) in great shape, and the son of Forestry will look to improve off his excellent fourth-place Derby effort in the second leg of the Triple Crown on May 21 at Pimlico in Baltimore. The 1 3/16 mile Preakness has a history of being kind to horses on the front end, and after drawing post 5, his connections had that very thought in mind.

Co-owner Mike Lauffer was at the Preakness draw. “I think it (post 5) will be fine with us. We’ve been on the outside two of the last three races, so it will be nice to be near the inside. We’ve got speed, so we should be able to save a little ground into the first turn, which is what we want to do. He should be in the top three or four horses going into the first turn.”

In the Derby, Shackleford had the lead until inside the eighth pole, and it was less than a length between him and second place at the wire. The fourth-place finish was worth $100,000 and earned him a lifetime-best Beyer Speed Figure of 97.

Earlier this week, trainer Dale Romans said his colt was suffering no ill effects from his Derby run. “A race like that can knock a horse out of the feed tub, but he’s been cleaning his feed tub, been bucking and playing,” Romans said. “He was bucking in the middle of his gallop today.”

Shackleford is co-owned by his breeders Lauffer and Bill Cubbedge. His record is 2-1-0 in six starts, earning $371,666. The Kentucky-bred is out of the top-class mare Oatsee, the dam of multiple graded stakes-winning fillies Lady Joanne and Baghdaria.

Shackleford is the leading earner on the year for Forestry, and is one of six stakes horses for his sire.