Kentucky Derby winner Mage headlines Saturday’s 148th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, landing post 3 at Monday’s ceremonial post position draw. The 8-5 morning line favorite will have 7 rivals at Old Hilltop, all runners who skipped the Kentucky Derby.
Horseplayers betting the Preakness (Saturday) and Black-Eyed Susan Day (Friday) cards can enjoy a $10 money-back special on win bets if those selections finish second or third in any race either day.
Mage has delivered back-to-back rallying efforts from off the pace, a promising runner-up in the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park and then from more than 13 lengths back to score in the Run for the Roses. He also won on the lead in his sprint debut win, so Luis Saez seemingly has some options where to place him in a Preakness that should give all a fair shot given the field size and distance. Post 3 might involve a bit more early presence than shown in Louisville. Mage will be out to become the first Kentucky Derby to add the Preakness since 2018 Triple Crown sweeper Justify, and the first Derby alumni of any sort to win the middle jewel since War of Will in 2019.
The Preakness pace, much like the Derby two weeks ago, is not as clear on paper as most years. But when west coast raider National Treasure drew the rail, and was announced to be adding blinkers on Saturday, the early lead likely came into clearer focus. Expect him to hustle away early with locally based Coffeewithchris capable of early foot from post 4. Potentially lining in close attendance – or attacking the front if others defer – is the Brad Cox-trained Lexington Stakes winner First Mission (post 8) under Luis Saez. Perform (post 6) stumbled away from the gate in the Federico Tesio when rallying to win, but has shown front-end speed in prior races if jockey Feargal Lynch chooses to tap into it.
The back markers in the early portion of the race figure to be Red Route One (post 5) and Chase the Chaos (post 2). Both earned automatic qualifiers to the Preakness via stakes wins at Oaklawn Park and Golden Gate Fields, respectively. Perform also won Laurel’s local automatic qualifier, but was not Triple Crown nominated, and therefore supplemented to this race at an additional $150,000 cost.
148th Preakness // Saturday // Pimlico // Race 13 // 7:01 pm ET
#1-National Treasure (John Velazquez//Bob Baffert) 4-1
#2-Chase the Chaos (Sheldon Russell//Ed Moger Jr.) 50-1
#3-Mage (Javier Castellano//Gustavo Delgado) 8-5
#4-Coffeewithchris (Jaime Rodriguez//John Salzman Jr.) 20-1
#5-Red Route One (Joel Rosario//Steve Asmussen) 10-1
#6-Perform (Feargal Lynch//Shug McGaughey) 15-1
#7-Blazing Sevens (Irad Ortiz Jr.//Chad Brown) 6-1
#8-First Mission (Luis Saez//Brad Cox) 5-2
.svg){kind=logo}
