Nyquist went into the Kentucky Derby as the favourite and proved that his supporters made the right choice. He got off to a great start, stalked the competition and wound up winning the Derby by 1 ¼ lengths over second-favourite, Exaggerator. Now, Nyquist tops the futures market for the Preakness Stakes, along some familiar foes and some fresh faces.
Nyquist (5/7) will be joined by Exaggerator (9/2) and potentially Gun Runner (14/1), which fills out the top three finishers from the Derby. Exaggerator has now failed to beat Nyquist four times, but the Keith Desormeaux-trained colt is such a powerful closer, it seems like he could beat Nyquist if he starts his push to close at the perfect moment. In the final stretch, Exaggerator swept past Gun Runner, who led the pack after the far turn.
Interestingly enough, a new competitor is favoured over Gun Runner for the Preakness. Stradivari (12/1) is a bit of a wild card as he's only raced once since breaking his maiden last year. His lone start this year was an allowance race in April, which he won.
Another new face is Cherry Wine (25/1), who was due to start in the Derby, but he was scratched. Now he'll head to Pimlico to start in his second grade-1 event. He'll be joined by Collected (20/1), Uncle Lino (33/1), Awesome Speed (33/1) and Laoban (40/1). Awesome Speed is on a hot streak, with four wins in five starts; however, his one loss was a fourth-place finish at the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, which is his only graded-stakes start to date.
Collected is a two-time graded stakes winner and took the Lexington Stakes last month. Uncle Lino hasn't managed to win any of his graded starts, but is coming off a win at the non-graded California Chrome Stakes in April. Laoban is hoping to claim his first victory, after five starts that included the Sham Stakes, the Gotham Stakes and the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes. He's the longest shot on the board.
The Preakness is the second jewel in horse racing's Triple Crown, and it is the shortest of the three contests at 1 3/16 miles. The race will be run at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on Saturday, May 21, and the confirmed list should be out a few days prior to the race. The maximum number of horses allowed to line up for the Preakness is 14. Check back at Bodog for all your Triple Crown updates.
*Odds as of May 12, 2016