Jerardi: Uncle Heavy representing Philly in Preakness Stakes

Uncle Heavy is an accidental horse racing miracle. Early Saturday evening, the 3-year-old colt, stabled at Parx Racing in Bensalem, will try to become the first Pennsylvania bred since the legendary Smarty Jones 20 years ago to win the $2 million Preakness at Pimlico.

Uncle Heavy is trained by Parx Hall of Famer Butch Reid and was born on fellow Parx Hall of Famer Mark Reid’s farm in Chester County. The Reid brothers from South Jersey are both University of Maryland graduates so going to Baltimore for the middle jewel of the Triple Crown is really like going home.

 Before he retired from training a few years ago, Mark had Uncle Heavy’s mother, a filly named Expect Wonderful. He expected much from her, but in horse racing, expectations are too often unmet. These are animals with issues and, unlike human athletes, they can’t tell you if they have a problem.

 Even though she never amounted to much as a race horse, Mark continued to believe in Expect Wonderful. She was eventually bred to Social Inclusion who finished third in the 2014 Preakness behind California Chrome.

 Reid put her in a horse sale, but the bidding stopped at $1,700. She had failed as a runner and nobody was really interested in buying her as a breeding prospect. Reid was interested so he bought her from her original owner for the $1,700. Reid sold the resulting foal to longtime friend Mike Milam and still has Expect Wonderful on his farm

 That foal would be named Uncle Heavy, the moniker all of Reid’s nieces and nephews use for him. He was nicknamed “Heavy’’ early in his horse racing career, partly due to his size and the fact that he was the 1972 ACC Heavyweight Wrestling Champion.

 When Uncle Heavy was ready for the races, Mark turned him over to brother Butch, the dominant stakes-winning trainer at Parx. Butch does not just win stakes at his home track, he regularly wins stakes in New York and, in 2020, he won a Breeders’ Cup race in Kentucky with eventual 2-year-old filly champion Vequist

 Uncle Heavy showed promise from the start last year and when he won the Feb. 3 Withers Stakes at Aqueduct, prominent Parx owner Glenn Bennett contacted Milam and purchased an interest in Uncle Heavy. They were hoping to get to the Kentucky Derby, but after a troubled fifth in the Wood Memorial, the colt just missed the cutoff to get into the race.

 The Preakness, of course, is much more than a consolation prize. The issue is that the 2024 Preakness will be very difficult to win.

 Uncle Heavy’s running style may be compromised by how this Preakness figures to be run. There is not much early speed which a horse with a late rally like Uncle Heavy often needs to aid in showing his talent. And then there is the matter of the competition in the nine-horse field: Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan, Louisiana Derby winner Catching Freedom not to mention the Santa Anita Derby runner-up Imagination. The competition lessened when almost certain favorite Muth, the Arkansas Derby winner, had to be scratched Wednesday morning after developing a fever.

 Trainers Bob Baffert (Imagination), Wayne Lukas (Just Steel, Seize the Grey), Chad Brown (Tuscan Gold) and Kenny McPeek (Mystik Dan) have combined to win the Preakness 17 times.

Five years ago, Butch Reid had the best young horse at Parx since Smarty Jones. Maximus Mischief looked to be a major player heading into the 2019 Triple Crown season, but he raced just once that year and was then retired after being injured.

Uncle Heavy does not have the raw ability of Maximus Mischief, but the colt has three wins in five starts in what so far has been an overachieving career. Winning the Preakness is the biggest ask yet.

 Realistically, a top-three finish would be a wonderful achievement. Reid was able to get champion  jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. to ride Uncle Heavy. That is a definite positive but, in the end, it is called horse racing for a reason and we shall see if Uncle Heavy is good enough to pass some of the best 3-year-olds in the country and win the Preakness.