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It's a mudfest at the Preakness, but is that good or bad news for favorite Justify? The 3-year-old colt won the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago on the rainiest day in Kentucky Derby history. One thing that will look much different at Pimlico Race Course: the field competing against the 1-2 favorite. Only four of the horses from the 20-horse Derby field will race Saturday at the Preakness.
Eight horses will charge out of the start for the second leg of the American Triple Crown, the smallest Preakness field since 2000, and after a record attendance in 2017, this year's competition figures to warrant just as much attention as Justify looks to become the first Thoroughbred to take all three of the famed Grade 1 Stakes races since American Pharaoh did it in 2015. In doing so, he's also vying to become the fifth straight Derby winner under trainer Baffert to also win the Preakness, and he'll have to do it from post No. 7, a familiar spot.
Live updates
You can follow along with all of the action at the 2018 Preakness Stakes with live updates starting Saturday at 1 p.m. ET. If the stream isn't working for you, click here.
Here's a complete look at the 2018 Preakness Stakes post positions and morning-line odds:
Post draw, odds
POST HORSE ODDS 1 Quip 12-1 2 Lone Sailor 15-1 3 Sporting Chance 30-1 4 Diamond King 30-1 5 Good Magic 3-1 6 Tenfold 20-1 7 Justify 1-2 8 Bravazo 20-1
Justify back at No. 7
After winning the Kentucky Derby rather handily from the No. 7 post, Justify will stay in that spot for the Preakness, and he's a big favorite with 1-2 morning-line odds. After facing off with 19 other Thoroughbreds in Louisville, this post probably gets a little better for the Preakness favorite considering he's got only seven other horses to deal with on Saturday.
Best and worst post positions
It's a little harder to pinpoint "bad" positions when there's only eight horses running as opposed to 20, but Quip, on the outside at Post 1, isn't necessarily in a good position unless his team thinks he can run full bore from the get-go and overpower Justify down the stretch. The D. Wayne Lukas-trained Bravazo at Post 8, meanwhile, will be right next to the race's overwhelming favorite, which isn't always the best position to be in -- Lukas himself admitted after the post draw that he thought his horses were in "deep doo-doo" after he saw Justify in person on Wednesday.
Justify might have gotten the best draw merely for the fact that he was already going to be a heavy favorite in Baltimore. At No. 7, where he started in Kentucky, he should still have room to break out and gain steam on the straightaway to handle the first turn.
Preview
Justify is the horse to watch going into the 2018 Preakness Stakes, the second leg on the road to the Triple Crown. After winning the Kentucky Derby and breaking “Apollo’s Curse”, Justify has been favored to take the 9 1/2 furlong Preakness. It’s set to go down on Saturday, with a post time of approximately 6:20 p.m. ET.
Related Highlights and winners from Saturday at Pimlico
Television coverage of the race will be carried by NBC, which begins pre-race coverage at 5 p.m. Further pre-race coverage can be found at NBC Sports from 2:30 p.m. Online streaming of the race will be handled by NBC Sports or a streaming service that carries NBC, such as fuboTV.
Justify was not raced as a two-year-old, which is what the aforementioned “curse” refers to. The last horse to win the Derby having not been raced as a two-year-old was Apollo in 1882. The horse is trained by Bob Baffert, and Mike Smith is the jockey. Justify is 4-0 with over $2 million in career earnings.
Baffert also trained American Pharoah, the 2015 Triple Crown winner. He also has had six of his horses win the Preakness, tied with D. Wayne Lukas in second place all-time.
The other horses to watch are Bravazo, Quip, and Good Magic. The latter of the three has been considered Justify’s top competition for the Preakness.
Justify also started seventh in the Derby, though post position is a different thing when it comes to the Preakness, as the field is down from 20 horses to eight.
Below, you can see the full post position lineup for the eight-horse field.
2018 Preakness Stakes post positions
1. Quip
2. Lone Sailor
3. Sporting Chance
4. Diamond King
5. Good Magic
6. Tenfold
7. Justify
8. Bravazo
And below is all you need to know to watch the action.
How to watch the 2018 Preakness Stakes
All times ET
Date: Saturday, May 19
Location: Pimlico Race Course, Baltimore
Post time: 6:20 p.m. (approx)
TV: NBC (from 5 p.m., more pre-race coverage on NBCSN from 2:30 p.m.)
Online Streaming: NBC Sports, fuboTV
Eclipse Sportswire/Getty Images
While the Preakness Stakes may not carry the same worldwide acclaim as the Kentucky Derby, for Justify and Bob Baffert, this meeting at Pimlico Race Course will be a momentous one.
Justify was excellent at Churchill Downs earlier this month to win the Derby, breaking the longstanding Apollo Curse and showing durability in difficult conditions. The champion will now be keen to follow in the footsteps of American Pharoah, a horse also trained by Baffert that won the Triple Crown in 2015.
While he's the heavy favourite to take the second of the three thoroughbred racing jewels, it's not going to be totally straightforward for Justify and jockey Mike Smith.
Read on for the crucial information needed pre-race, including the post details and where to catch the action from Baltimore, Maryland.
Date: Saturday, May 19
Start Time: 6:20 p.m. ET, 11:20 p.m. BST
TV Info: NBC (U.S.), AtTheRaces (UK)
Post Positions and Odds
1. Quip (+1600)
2. Lone Sailor (+2500)
3. Sporting Chance (+2200)
4. Diamond King (+1600)
5. Good Magic (+300)
6. Tenfold (+2500)
7. Justify (-250)
8. Bravazo (+1800)
Figures are courtesy of OddsShark
Fresh Challenges for Justify at Preakness
Eclipse Sportswire/Getty Images
The Pimlico Race Course and the Preakness Stakes present a different challenge to the one the runners and riders came up against in the Derby.
The circuit is a lot tighter in Baltimore than the one at Churchill Downs, while a smaller field also means challengers are less likely to be shunted on their way around the circuit. The showpiece race is also half a furlong shorter than the first Triple Crown race.
While other competitors at Pimlico will be hoping these factors work against Justify, who is clearly the class of the field, they're more likely to enhance his chances.
After all, the difficulty of the run in Kentucky, with the rain tipping down prior to the start of the event, would have taken a lot from many in the field. And with all but one of the pre-race favourites missing out on the chance of a Triple Crown, there's no rush to get back for Preakness.
As noted by Joe Nevills of Daily Racing Form, the biggest obstacles between Justify and a Triple Crown will most likely come in the Belmont Stakes in New York instead of at Preakness:
It's a race that looks to be Justify's to lose, and while anything can happen in these types of dashes, the favourite appears primed for another big performance.
He was relatively comfortable in Kentucky despite the conditions, while Smith has proved on so many occasions that he is one of the best jockeys in the business. Regardless of the circumstances, the veteran is unlikely to panic at any point.
Eclipse Sportswire/Getty Images
Baffert is also an expert in getting his horses prepared for this quick turnaround, and he played down fears that Justify is carrying a knock ahead of his chase for more glory, per Deb Carson of Fox Sports:
If Justify is hindered here, then Good Magic is the horse that appears most likely to capitalise. He was an impressive second at Churchill Downs, holding on to the position well despite getting a fair amount of kickback from the winner.
Jockey agent Jimmy Riccio praised the performance of the runner-up and the ride Jose Ortiz gave him at Churchill Downs:
While the two horses mentioned did show their best at the Derby, the most likely challenge may come from a new rival. Quip will be fresh into this one and may capitalise if the Derby runners do begin to feel the strain late in the contest.
Justify, with jockey Mike Smith aboard, holds off second-place Bravazo (8) and Tenfold (6) to capture the Preakness, giving him the first two legs of the Triple Crown. (Amber Searls/USA Today Sports)
The horses, a rumor of thundering hoofs and distant roars disappearing into the fog at the first turn, made an invisible loop around Pimlico Race Course’s liquid track, then suddenly reappeared out of the gauzy mist and came heaving and splashing down the homestretch. Out in front was the strapping chestnut colt named Justify, his white blaze the first thing to come into view. But behind him — and keeping pace, if not gaining — was a pack of rivals.
As he has across the entirety of his brief and meteoric career, Justify answered the challenge and prevailed Saturday, winning the 143rd Preakness Stakes and keeping alive his Triple Crown hopes.
Tested like never before, Justify, an overwhelming 2-5 favorite, ran neck-and-neck with rival Good Magic for much of the race, seized the lead coming out of the last turn and held off late-charging Bravazo down the stretch for a half-length victory, the smallest by far of his five career wins. Tenfold also closed hard and finished third by a neck. Good Magic faded to fourth.
“It was by far his hardest race,” said Justify’s jockey, 52-year-old Mike Smith. “A bit of the greenness came out today, but he was also pushed today early on.”
In three weeks, assuming he emerges in fine health from Saturday’s grueling slog through the mud and fog, Justify, with the Kentucky Derby and Preakness already secured, will race at Belmont Park on Long Island with a chance to become just the sport’s 13th Triple Crown winner.
[The Preakness is a rainy, sloppy, sopping, muddy mess. We have photos.]
Saturday’s race somehow brought out a new, previously unseen attribute in Justify — a bit of grit and heart, which he had never before required — while also making him appear more beatable than he has at any other time. His previous four victories had come by a combined 21½ lengths, with his 2½ -length win over Good Magic at the Derby the smallest.
“Good Magic, he put it to us,” said Bob Baffert, Justify’s trainer, who won his seventh Preakness and 14th Triple Crown race. “They didn’t give it away. He was going to make us earn it. I wasn’t liking it. . . . But this is what makes horse racing so great. They find themselves when they get in this position. He’s not just this big, beautiful horse — he is all racehorse. He was in a fight the whole way.”
By late afternoon, the rain and drizzle that soaked the grounds all week — and a crowd of 134,487 all day — had largely abated, replaced by a thick blanket of fog that gave the proceedings a spooky, mystical vibe. On a clear day, you can look out from Pimlico’s upper levels and see the Francis Scott Key Bridge on the city’s south side, some 15 miles away.
On Saturday, you could barely see the infield.
Some two-thirds of the race was all but invisible from the grandstand, the giant video screen with NBC’s multicamera feed the only way to see what was happening. Even Justify’s connections could only watch the screen and wait for the horses to make the final turn.
“When they turned for home and I couldn’t see them, that scared me to death,” said Kenny Troutt of WinStar Farm, Justify’s owner. “And finally they showed up right there, and boom.”
Jose Ortiz, atop Good Magic, went to the lead out of the gate and remained within a half-length of Justify, on the inside, for almost the entire race.
“I looked over and saw Good Magic,” said Smith, Justify’s jockey. “I said, ‘Oh, man. It’s going to be a match race from this point on.’ ”
Only on the homestretch did Good Magic begin to fade, by which point Bravazo, trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas and ridden by Luis Saez, made a late charge. Smith, aboard Justify, felt the late challenge but knew he was nearly to the wire and said he didn’t ride Justify as hard as he could have.
“A very good horse won the race,” Lukas said. “We ran at him. We kept him honest, just like we said we would.”
[The Preakness moving out of Pimlico and Baltimore? It’s looking increasingly likely.]
Three years ago, Baffert brought another precocious Kentucky Derby champion to Pimlico and dashed through a sudden and violent thunderstorm to win by seven lengths. Three weeks later, that colt, American Pharoah, became the sport’s first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, ensuring his place in its history. Between those two wins, 13 other horses, including three of Baffert’s, had secured the first two jewels only to fail to complete the crown.
Baffert has not been shy about evoking Pharoah’s name in speaking of Justify, gushing about how both horses “just glide over the ground.” Because Justify, a strapping 1,280 pounds, has about 100 pounds on Pharoah, Baffert has taken to describing them, respectively, as LeBron James and Michael Jordan.
In just 90 days, Justify has gone from an untested and mostly unknown colt who had never been saddled in a race to the sport’s biggest superstar since American Pharoah himself.
Baffert himself didn’t lay eyes on Justify until just four months ago. The first time he worked him out at Santa Anita, Baffert came away thinking, “We have a shot.” He meant: a potential Derby champion. But the road from there to here was a steep one, given Justify’s lack of experience at that point — and the fact that no horse since Apollo in 1882 had won the Derby without having raced as a 2-year-old.
Justify raced for the first time Feb. 18, winning a maiden race at Santa Anita by 9½ lengths and immediately establishing himself as a Derby contender. By early April, he was winning the Santa Anita Derby by three lengths, announcing himself as the Derby favorite.
In the month of May alone, Justify has ended the so-called Curse of Apollo, won once in the rain and once in the fog, overcome a bruised heel suffered in the Derby and survived the toughest race of his career.
“He has to show us,” Baffert said when asked if Justify would go to Belmont. “He has to come out of the race well, and he has to be training really well. He’ll dictate it. We’ll get him back to Kentucky and see how he trains. But right now, I don’t see why not.”
With a Triple Crown within reach, how could Baffert not take his horse — barring injury — to Belmont? History will expect it. The industry will demand it. And Justify, having done everything asked of him to this point, will have earned it.
