Baltimore
Nyquist, the 3-5 favorite in the morning line, has answered every question asked of him in his career. And trainer Doug O’Neill sounded none too worried about Wednesday’s draw.
“Having the gate speed that Nyquist has, and just the continuity of Mario and Nyquist, is so huge,” O’Neill said. “There are certain posts you don’t really want, but no matter where he gets, as long as he leaves there running, Mario’s got enough speed underneath him to put himself in a good position.”
His top rival, Derby runner-up Exaggerator, will start from the No. 5 post as a 3-1 second choice in the morning line.
The late-charging colt has yet to beat Nyquist in four attempts, but trainer Keith Desormeaux hopes Exaggerator will be the fresher competitor on Saturday.
“He’s just a phenomenal horse and he’s tough to beat, but it’s fun trying,” Desormeaux said. “I have a horse that one of his greatest attributes is his ability to recover. … His demeanor and body looked the same 24 hours after the Kentucky Derby. That’s a great ability to recover. Maybe Nyquist doesn’t recover that well. It’s not normal for a horse to recover that quickly.”
Desormeaux said he doesn’t want his brother, jockey Kent Desormeaux, to change tactics from the Derby. He simply wants Exaggerator to find a comfortable groove and run as close to the lead as his Hall of Fame jockey sees fit.
With an 11-horse field instead of 20 at Churchill Downs, Exaggerator should have more room to make his push.
“The smaller field, it’s got to help,” Desormeaux said. “It’s common sense.”
Japanese import Lani is the only other holdover from the May 7 Derby, where he finished ninth after struggling to compose himself in the paddock before the race. He’ll start from the sixth post as a 30-1 choice in the morning line.
From there, the field of 11 consists of fresh competitors looking to pull a startling upset.
Trainer Bob Baffert is back, looking for his seventh Preakness victory after last year’s Triple Crown run with American Pharoah. His horse, Collected, will start from the No. 7 post as a 10-1 choice in the morning line.
“This is like, take a shot here,” Baffert said Wednesday morning.
“We won’t see any Belmont, nothing like that. It’s a one-shot deal, so let’s see what he does.”
He has never won the Preakness with a horse who did not run in the Derby, and he came away from Churchill Downs impressed with Nyquist’s ability to break cleanly and avoid trouble.
“He’ll like this track,” Baffert said of the Preakness favorite. “He’s definitely the horse to beat.”
Collected is one of several early speed horses who could create a different dynamic than Nyquist faced in the Derby, where Danzing Candy was the only horse pushing the early pace.
Baffert’s regular competitor for trainer-of-the-year honors, Todd Pletcher, is making his first Preakness appearance since 2011 with Stradivari, a lightly raced horse who might be peaking after an impressive win in his last start at Keeneland.
Stradivari drew the No. 11 post and is an 8-1 choice in the morning line, third-shortest odds.
“We think he’s a very good horse,” Pletcher said Tuesday.
“It’s ambitious, but we think he deserves a chance. It might be that with only three lifetime starts, he’s not quite ready for this big a jump, but we think it’s worth a try, as long as he shows up and runs well, comes out of it well and continues to move forward.”