Crupper carries Robert Zoellner’s small stable to the Preakness

Robert Zoellner’s shot at the Preakness came from a breeding barn that had nearly emptied out. In the spring of 2023, Zoellner was down to three broodmares, one failed to get in foal, one foal died, and the third delivered Crupper, the colt now set to give the owner-breeder his first starter in a Triple Crown race.

That is what makes Crupper’s run to Laurel Park feel less like a standard stakes progression and more like a lottery ticket that finally hit. Zoellner has said the odds of one foal making it to a classic race are about 1 in 10,000 when you strip the math down to a single colt among thousands of foals. Crupper is the exception, a homebred who was born and raised on the Crupper farm near Paris, Kentucky, and who carried enough promise early that Zoellner named him after Keith Crupper, one of the men who first saw the colt’s potential.

Crupper earned his spot in the 151st Preakness Stakes the hard way, by running through Oaklawn Park’s Bathhouse Row Stakes on April 18. He won the $200,000 race at 1 1/8 miles by a half-length in 1:50.89, enough to lock in his trip to the middle jewel and give the small stable a legitimate place in the conversation. Junior Alvarado will ride him for trainer Donnie K. Von Hemel, and Bill Mott’s decision to bypass the race with another horse helped settle the mount.

Zoellner’s operation is built on patience, not volume. Crupper is by Candy Ride (ARG) and out of Zoellner’s graded-stakes-winning mare She’s All In, a pedigree that gave the colt a foundation, but not a guarantee. Zoellner first bought a horse in 1999 and has spent years in the game without reaching a Triple Crown race as an owner-breeder. Now he gets that stage with a colt who was not purchased at a premium sale or assembled by a giant outfit, but came from his own breeding program.

The setting only sharpens the stakes. The 2026 Preakness is scheduled for Saturday, May 16, at Laurel Park because Pimlico Race Course is undergoing redevelopment, and the race will carry a $2 million purse with a full field of 14 horses, the first full field in years. For Zoellner, and for Keith and Allen Crupper’s horse-farm family in Georgetown and Paris, Kentucky, the moment is bigger than a starting gate. It is proof that a small stable can still find the right horse, at the right time, and make it all the way to the Preakness.