BALTIMORE _ Trainer Kenny McPeak wasn't sure he wanted to put Swiss Skydiver in the Preakness Stakes.
If there had been a Grade 1 stakes for 3-year-old fillies at the same juncture of the calendar, he probably would not have.
But McPeak has ducked no challenges this year, racing Swiss Skydiver in Florida, Louisiana, California, Arkansas, Kentucky and New York. So as long as she kept cleaning out her feed tub and showing up eager to train, why not pit her against a field of colts led by Kentucky Derby champion Authentic?
The relentless chestnut rewarded her trainer's bold choice Saturday when she became the first filly since 2009 and only the second since 1924 to win the Preakness.
Swiss Skydiver's surprise triumph brought an indelible twist to the strangest Preakness in memory. Originally scheduled for May 16, the race was run 4 { months late because of the coronavirus pandemic. Other than a few horse owners in trackside suites, there were no spectators at Pimlico Race Course to watch the filly make history. An event defined by its roiling party crowd of more than 100,000 went largely silent. To make matters weirder, the Preakness served as the third leg of a scrambled Triple Crown series that began with the June 20 Belmont Stakes.
This was not the way anyone wanted it in the same year the state legislature and The Stronach Group agreed on a plan to rehabilitate Pimlico and maintain it as the long-term home of the Preakness.
But the circumstances did little to take the shine off McPeek's day as the trainer celebrated his first victory in the Triple Crown series since the 2002 Belmont Stakes.
Swiss Skydiver, named by owner Peter Callahan after he glimpsed a picture of his granddaughter parachuting over the Swiss Alps, picked up a legacy of filly greatness established by Rachel Alexandra, who won the 2009 Preakness on her way to American Horse of the Year honors.
