Tuscan Gold, the third-place finisher in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby, was to scratch from Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes at Aqueduct and will run in the $2 million Preakness Stakes on May 18 at Pimlico, trainer Chad Brown said Thursday. Tyler Gaffalione will ride Tuscan Gold in the Preakness. Brown had said shortly after the Louisiana Derby that the Preakness was his initial plan. Over the weekend, where he saddled Sierra Leone to a runner-up finish in the Kentucky Derby, Brown wondered aloud whether Tuscan Gold was seasoned enough to run in the Preakness. He said he would enter the Peter Pan while continuing to contemplate the Preakness. On Thursday, he made the call to go to Baltimore. “I just feel the horse is doing well,” Brown, a two-time Preakness winner, said. “My first instinct was to go to the Preakness and train up to the race. I wanted to enter [the Peter Pan] and give myself a little bit of time and also buy me a couple of extra days, see who exactly who is running where. After I looked at the whole big picture, the reward is much greater if we were able to have success in the Preakness.” :: DRF's Preakness Headquarters: Contenders, latest news, and more Entering the Peter Pan would have given Tuscan Gold an extra week and could have been used as a stepping-stone to the Belmont Stakes on June 8 at Saratoga. “The Preakness being a Grade 1 and a lot more money for a well-bred horse, but I really entered for the extra week to the Belmont,” said Brown, who trains Tuscan Gold, a son of Medgalia d’Oro, for William Lawrence, Walmac Farm, and Stonestreet Stables. Brown won the Preakness in 2017 with Cloud Computing, who had run three times and was coming off a third-place finish in the Wood Memorial. Brown won the 2022 Preakness with Early Voting, who had run three times and was coming off a second-place finish in the Wood. The Preakness will be Tuscan Gold’s fourth career start after his third-place finish behind Catching Freedom and Honor Marie in the Louisiana Derby. In that race, Tuscan Gold raced wide throughout and was beaten just 1 3/4 lengths. “He did not get a good trip. Hoping he gets a better trip in the Preakness,” Brown said. Brown said Tuscan Gold would have a workout over the weekend at Belmont Park. Meanwhile, Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan had another routine gallop at Churchill Downs Thursday morning. The former jockey Robby Albarado was aboard. Trainer Kenny McPeek was at Keeneland but said by all accounts everything went well. Still, he stopped short of committing to run in the Preakness. “The horse is doing really well. We’re feeling pretty good about where he’s going,” McPeek said Thursday on a national conference call. “We’re still not going to make a decision until over the weekend.” McPeek did share a story where he heard from six-time Kentucky Derby winner and eight-time Preakness winning trainer Bob Baffert after Mystik Dan won the Derby. “Bob was one of the first people to call me,” McPeek said. “World of respect for Bob Baffert. Not everybody calls you after you win a big race like that, but Bob’s great and we had a good chat about it. He was over the moon for me and any notion that Bob Baffert isn’t a special guy, he is. Very.” :: Get ready for the Preakness with DRF past performances, picks, and betting strategies! Baffert plans to run both Muth, the Arkansas Derby winner, and Imagination, the Santa Anita Derby runner-up, in the Preakness. Baffert said on the national call Thursday that both horses were scheduled to breeze at Santa Anita on Friday and ship to Baltimore on Tuesday. D. Wayne Lukas confirmed that Joel Rosario will replace Keith Asmussen on Just Steel, the 17th-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby. Lukas said Just Steel and Pat Day Mile winner Seize the Grey will van from Churchill to Baltimore on Monday. The Preakness draw is Monday. As of Thursday, the list of possible starters, with likely riders, included Catching Freedom (Flavien Prat), Copper Tax (J.G. Torrealba), Imagination (Frankie Dettori), Just Steel (Rosario), Muth (Juan Hernandez), Mugatu (Joe Bravo), Mystik Dan (Brian Hernandez Jr.), Seize the Grey (Jaime Torres), Tuscan Gold (Gaffalione), and Uncle Heavy (TBD). :: Get ready for the Preakness with DRF past performances, picks, and betting strategies!