Talked by phone a few minutes ago with trainer Mary Hartmann, whose flight arrived in Chicago earlier in the afternoon. Hartmann was on the way to see Presious Passion at his stall, but said she was committed to starting the horse in the Million regardless of what happens with the weather. Hartmann had said this week that she was trying to dodge a wet course with Presious Passion, and she was keeping open the option of trying the Sword Dancer at Saratoga rather than the Million. But now that Presious Passion shipped here Thursday, he will indeed start in the Million.
"I'm here and we're going to run," Hartmann said, who was as of late Friday afternoon not all that concerned with local course conditions. "Everyone said the course was dry. Anyway, I haven't been on real soft turf since last year, and he's been changing so much from month to month, who knows what he really likes.
