A field of seven is ready to take on “the middle jewel of the Triple Crown” as the Preakness Stakes takes place at its home of Pimlico, Maryland.
The 1 mile 1 ½ furlong trip is worth £750,000 to the winner.
There is, however, only one runner tomorrow who also took part in the opening leg of the Triple Crown, the Kentucky Derby, and that was its winner, Mage, who is the 1.61 clear favourite for this with William Hill.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: May 19th, 6:00 P.M. (BST)
Ridden by Javier Castellano and trained by Gustavo Delgado, Mage beat Two Phil’s by a length at Churchill Downs and will hope to remain on course to be the first Triple Crown winner since American Pharoah in 2015.
Mage had failed to win in graded company before the Kentucky Derby, finishing second in the Florida Derby and fourth in the Fountain of Youth Stakes, both at Gulfstream Park.
Castellano won this race on Cloud Computing in 2017 while Delgado is looking for his first triumph.
A win for Bob Baffert, though, will make him the outright leading trainer in the race; he is relying on 5.00 shot National Treasure to bring him his eighth victory.
The colt has not won since his debut at Del Mar last September but has recorded a second, third and fourth in his three Grade 1 appearances thus far, the most recent coming in the Santa Anita Derby last month, though that was the fourth place.
Third favourite at 8.00 is Blazing Sevens, who could only manage eighth in the Fountain of Youth but improved to finish third in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland last month.
One notable change was Irad Ortiz taking the ride, and he will be on board again for trainer Chad C. Brown, who won this last year with Early Voting.
Perform (11.00) has been living up to his name in his last two races, winning at Laurel Park over a mile and Tampa Bay Downs over nine furlongs.
Fergal Lynch retains the ride he first took at Laurel Park for trainer Claude McGaughey in what will be Perform’s first race in graded company, let alone Grade 1.
Red Route One (19.00) by comparison will be entering his seventh graded race but is still chasing a first win. Last time out he was a disappointing sixth in the Arkansas Derby.
Outsiders Coffeewithchris (23.00) and Chase The Chaos (51.00) have both recorded a win each this year but in lower-class company.
