Horse Racing 2018 Preakness Preview
Preakness Preview by entity wagering company mkinvestllc, Las Vegas, Nevada. Race #13 at Pimlico, post time 6:48 PM, 1 3/16 mile. Is 7 a lucky number? It is for 2018 Kentucky Derby winner Justify. Justify will again break form the seven hole in the Preakness just as he did in the Derby. Justify has not had any issues on a wet track and that will be tested again this Sunday as the weather forecast for this weekend’s race calls for rain on Friday and Saturday morning.
While we always see the number of horses in the field drop from the Kentucky Derby, Justify will face a short field of 8 (including Justify) and has opened up at 1-2 morning line odds.
The field for the running of the 2018 Preakness Stakes:
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
Something that makes the Triple Crown so difficult to achieve is the entry of new horses in the Preakness and the Belmont. There always are quality horses that did not make the run for the roses for one reason or another but will show up to contend for one of the last two races of the Triple Crown. The Preakness brings back just 4 horses that ran in the Derby and 4 new horses to the field.
We have to admit that when Justify opened the Kentucky Derby speedy fractions of 22.24 and 45.77 seconds, our thoughts were no way he will win, he went out way to fast. The performance of those early fractions and finding another gear down the stretch has any horse players in awe of that performance. The only real challenge came from Good Magic, however, we believe those early fractions and the fact that Good Magic chased Justify and the early super-fast fractions cost him any chance of catching Justify. While the Belmont is the longest race of the Triple Crown, the Preakness is the shortest, and seeing the fractions set and the finish from Justify one would be hard pressed to believe Justify won’t win the second jewel of the Triple Crown. We expect Good Magic to run a more conservative pace and look for a better closing opportunity.
One of the factors to look at when betting the Kentucky Derby is the Training/Jockey combination and heading into the Derby there was not a better Horse/Trainer/Jockey combo going. Taking that into this Preakness we could argue that this combo gets even stronger as Baffert has won the Preakness six times and is four-for-four entering the Preakness with the Kentucky Derby winner.
Some notes on other entries:
#1 horse Quip ML 12-1. Quip won the Tampa Bay Derby in March and was 2nd in the Arkansas Derby. His challenge is he also runs upfront.
#2 horse Lone Sailor ML 15-1. Finished 8th in the Kentucky Derby, was 3rd in the Breeders’ Futurity as a 2-year-old. He also finished 2nd the Louisiana Derby.
#3 horse Sporting Chance ML 30-1. On the day of the Kentucky Derby, Sporting Chance ran in the Pay Day Mile and finished 4th.
#4 Diamond King ML 30-1. Diamond King is out of Quality Road-Akron Moon, by Malibu Moon and runs for the Cash is King’s Chuck Zacney who is no stranger to the Preakness.
#5 Good Magic ML 3-1. Good Magic finished 2nd to Justify in the Kentucky Derby and before that won last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. This horse, perhaps, has the best shot at upsetting Justify.
#6 Tenfold ML 20-1. Tenfold has been lightly race and was 5th in the Arkansas Derby. Easy to see that with some maturity coming into this horse and training Steven Asmussen an improvement would not be a surprise.
#7 Justify ML1-2. Kentucky Derby winner and as long as he is healthy and not feeling the effects of the Derby no reason to doubt this big, fast horse.
#8 Bravazo ML 20-1. With a 6th place finish in the Kentucky Derby and the legendary training D. Wayne Lukas at the helm, a repeat performance could have this one close to the money.
Wherever you happen to be on Saturday May 19th at 6:48 PM, find a television and enjoy a few minutes of what should be an exciting race.