The 141st running of the Grade I Preakness Stakes will take place this Saturday, 5/21/16. I will be betting on Nyquist (update: that is him pictured above), our latest Kentucky Derby winner! He was just announced as the morning line favorite with 3/5 morning-line odds immediately following the post position draw. Here is the full field:
Post Position: Horse/Jockey/Trainer/Owner/M-L Odds
- Cherry Wine/Corey Lanerie/Dale Romans/William Pacella and Frank L. Jones, Jr./20-1
- Uncle Lino/Fernando Hernandez Perez/Gary Sherlock/Tom Mansor, Purple Shamrock Racing and Gary Sherlock/20-1
- Nyquist/Mario Gutierrez/Doug O’Neill/Reddham Racing/3/5
- Awesome Speed/Jevian Toledo/Alan Golberg/Colts Neck Stables/30-1
- Exaggerator/Kent Desormeaux/Keith Dersormeaux/Big Cheif Racing, Head of Plains Parteners, Rocker O Ranch, et al./3-1
- Lani/Yutaka Take/Mikio Matsunaga/Yoko Maeda/30-1
- Collected/Javier Castellano/Bob Baffert/Speedway Stable/10-1
- Laoban/Florent Geroux/Eric Guillot/McCormick Racing and Southern Equine Stable/30-1
- Abiding Star/J.D. Acosta/Edward Allard/Stonehinge, LLC/30-1
- Fellowship/Jose Lezcanno/Mark Casse/Jacks or Better Farm/30-1
- Stradivari/John Velazquez/Todd Pletcher/John Gunther, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith and John Magnier/8-1
While the Preakness Stakes is eligible to 14 Thoroughbreds only these 11 will be participating. That is 3 more than last year’s small field when American Pharoah became the 14th horse to take the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. He went on to win at the Belmont Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Classic to become our 12th Triple Crown winner and our first Grand Slam winner. The competition is tough to see if Nyquist can follow in those horseshoes.
Cherry Wine was an “also eligible” as the 22nd horse in a 20 post position race for the Kentucky Derby but he did not get his chance that day. He is a lovely grey late bloomer. It took him 5 starts to break his maiden. His last 2 of 8 career races were graded stakes. He finished 4th in the Rebel Stakes and then 3rd in the Blue Grass Stakes. In all he has 2 wins, 1 place and has come in third twice. American Pharoah won from post position 1 in last year’s Preakness.
Uncle Lino wasn’t in the Kentucky Derby. His last race out was the California Chrome Stakes. He finished 1st place with his only win since he broke his maiden his second start. Out of his 7 races he has been twice at each 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. He has has finished in the top four of all three of his graded stakes, Robert B. Lewis, San Felipe and Santa Anita Derby. His sire is Uncle Mo, making him a half brother to Nyquist and Laoban and Abiding Star.
Nyquist is the favorite and I have written about him a few times if you want a more complete history on him check on my webpage, ThoroughbredU.com. He is undefeated in 8 starts and he wants to keep that title. He just won the KY Derby by 1 and 1/4 lengths on 5/7/16. California Chrome won the Preakness from post position 3 in 2014. Secretariat liked this post in 1973.
Awesome Speed has finished 1st in 4 of his 6 career starts however, he was 4th in his only graded stakes race, the Fountain of Youth. His connections have noted that he has bumped around a lot in his last couple of races. He is a pacemaker in his running style.
Exaggerator ran an exciting late sprint to earn 2nd to Nyquist in the KY Derby. He is 1 of only 3 horses from that race to step up to the Preakness challenge. His sire, Curlin, won the 2007 Preakness. To read more about Exaggerator, look back to my KY derby story.
Lani is the final horse to return from this past KY Derby. This lovely grey son of Tapit finished 9th in the KY Derby. Lani is described in more detail in my former KY Derby story. His dam sire, Sunday Silence, won the Preakness in 1989.
Collected is trained by Bob Baffert. Baffert has won the Preakness with Silver Charm, Real Quiet, Point Given, War Emblem, Lookin At Lucky and American Pharoah. In 6 career starts, Collected has 4 wins and a finish in 2nd place as well. He has won 2 of his 4 graded stakes races. These were the Cecile B. DeMille, Sham, Southwest and Lexington Stakes.
Laoban was the other “also eligible” that missed the KY Derby by a post. One of the 4 sired by Uncle Mo he is a front runner but also he has never won a race! Despite that, his connections have raced him 5 times and 3 of those where graded stakes, the Sham, Gotham and Blue Grass Stakes.
Abiding Star is the 4th and final horse sired by Uncle Mo in this race. He has had an amazing 11 career starts in which he has won 5 times and finished at 2nd and 3rd place each once. It took him 7 times to break his maiden. He has never ran in a graded stakes race, however he is on a five race winning streak.
Fellowship is trained by Mark Casse. He is the trainer of one of my favorite Thoroughbreds, Tepin. Fellowship has had a total of 12 starts. He has finished 1st two times and 2nd and 3rd three times each. He raced at Churchill Downs on KY Derby day in the Pat Day Mile where he finished fourth. That race was his fourth graded stakes race. He is of the Secretariat lineage.
Stradivari is the final horse in the Preakness. He has only been in 3 races. He won the last two. These were not stakes races. To my personal surprise, his trainer Todd Pletcher, despite all his fame, has never won the Preakness. Pletcher was 3rd in 2000 with Impeachment.
Preakness Fun Facts:
- the food of the day, crabcakes
- the flower, Black-Eyed Susans
- the blanket is actually made of Viking Poms
- the race is “The Run for the Black-Eyed Susans”
- the song, “Maryland, My Maryland”
- the trophy, a silver replica of the 1860 Woodlawn Vase
- the track record, 1:55 set by Secretariat
- the drink is also the Black-Eyed Susan
- post time is 6:45 PM EST
- NBCSN will televise starting at 2:30 PM EST
- NBC will televise starting at 6:30 PM EST
- Pimlico starts racing at 10:30 AM EST that day and the Preakness is the 13th race
- the race is 1 and 3/16 miles or 9.5 furlongs on the dirt
- the race is for 3YO Thoroughbreds
I hope everyone finds this info useful and helpful for their Preakness Stakes planning. Check back after the race for another blog post. Go, Nyquist, go! Let’s wish the rain holds off this year.
Share This: