Taj Mahal (Nyquist) is on target for the May 16 GI Preakness Stakes following his romping victory in the Federico Tesio Stakes Saturday at Laurel Park.“It was really impressive,” trainer Brittany Russell said Sunday. “You see a lot of these horses at home win the Tesio and go on to the Preakness and I thought to myself before the race, I hope he runs like 'wow.' You want to see a really big run from him to give you confidence that he should go on to the Preakness, and I do. I feel like he did that. I feel like it was a really big race, his first time going two turns. We've learned so much about him each run. I feel like he continues to improve.”Taj Mahal is unbeaten in three lifetime starts and all three starts have come at Laurel Park, which will host the Preakness for the first time this year. A debut winner in February going six furlongs, the bay colt won the Feb. 21 Miracle Wood Stakes over one mile before stretching out to 1 1/8 miles for his 8 1/4-length victory Saturday.“Back at the barn after the race and then this morning, he's just got some kind of air about him right now. He knows he's the man,” Russell said. “He was looking for his feed tub. He was taking in all the attention. He acts like he knows what's going on. I took him out and jogged him on the road this morning and he's as confident as a horse can be. He was making sure everybody was looking at him.”Also under consideration for the Preakness is Robert Zoellner's homebred Crupper (Candy Ride {Arg}), who earned an automatic berth in the middle leg of the Triple Crown for his victory in Saturday's Bathhouse Row Stakes at Oaklawn Park.“That was a big topic of conversation yesterday evening,” trainer Donnie Von Hemel said Sunday. “We're certainly going to talk about it. I think a lot of times you have to watch the Derby and see who does or doesn't move forward from there. We won a nice race. We've got some work to do, though, if we're going to be competitive with those top 3-year-olds. He has to move forward from this race.”Crupper, who broke his maiden going 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn in February, was making his stakes debut in the nine-furlong Bathhouse Row.“We thought all along that he had some talent in his early training and everything,” Von Hemel said. “His mother [She's All In] was second in the [2013] Delaware Handicap at a mile and a quarter to Royal Delta, so further is better. I was trying to convince the racing secretary to run a mile and an eighth a-other-than, but it never did happen, so I said let's just give this race a try. It's the right distance going a mile and an eighth and lucky for us, it all worked out.”The post Taj Mahal Bound for Preakness After Tesio Win appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.