Rain was falling at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday, just hours before Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan aims for back-to-back victories in the Preakness Stakes. Mystik Dan will compete against seven other horses in this race.
If successful, Mystik Dan would be the first horse since Justify in 2018 to win both the Derby and the Preakness, setting up a potential Triple Crown win at the Belmont Stakes next month. The main challengers Mystik Dan faces include Imagination, trained by Bob Baffert, Catching Freedom, trained by Brad Cox, and Tuscan Gold, trained by Chad Brown. The race may be run on a muddy track due to expected continued showers throughout the afternoon.
The Preakness Stakes is scheduled to start at 6:50 p.m. ET, with coverage available starting at 4:30 p.m. ET on various platforms.
Initially, Baffert was set to have two horses in the race, but morning line favorite Muth was scratched earlier in the week due to a fever. As of Saturday morning, Mystik Dan was the 3-1 favorite, while Catching Freedom and Tuscan Gold each had odds of 7-2, and Imagination was at 9-2.
“Mystik Dan has trained exceptionally well coming into this race,” said Kenny McPeek, Mystik Dan’s trainer, earlier this week. “Catching Freedom is also a very strong contender. Bob wouldn’t bring a horse to this race unless it was top quality, and Chad’s horse has also shown good form, having finished third behind Catching Freedom in the Louisiana Derby. It’s not an easy race to call.”
McPeek was initially uncertain about entering Mystik Dan in the Preakness after the colt’s narrow victory in the Kentucky Derby just two weeks ago. However, Mystik Dan is one of three horses from the Derby to run in the Preakness this year, compared to just one last year and two in 2022.
The reluctance of many trainers to run their horses in both the Derby and the Preakness has sparked discussions about the prestige of the Preakness and whether it has become less appealing in the Triple Crown series. There are ongoing debates about whether the races should be spaced further apart to accommodate modern thoroughbreds, which tend to race less frequently than horses did in previous eras.
This Preakness will be the last at the current Pimlico Race Course, with demolition of the old track set to begin early next year. The 150th Preakness in 2025 will still take place at Pimlico during construction, before moving to Laurel Park in 2026, and then returning to a newly rebuilt Pimlico in 2027.
The Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown, will occur on June 8. This year, for the first time, the race will be held at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York, due to ongoing renovations at Belmont Park in New York City. The construction is expected to last into 2025, potentially resulting in the Belmont Stakes being held at Saratoga for two consecutive years.
Currently, racing in New York is happening at Aqueduct in Queens, which hosted the Triple Crown finale from 1963 to 1967, the last time Belmont Park underwent renovations.