Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan will look to capture the second leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown at the Preakness Stakes on Saturday. The race takes place every year two Saturdays after the Kentucky Derby at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland.
The official #Preakness149 Post Position Draw! Who's your pick? pic.twitter.com/CpqcfgDXrY
— Preakness Stakes (@PreaknessStakes) May 13, 2024
This year’s Preakness field includes only eight horses after race favorite Muth was scratched on Wednesday morning with a fever. I was planning to make Muth my main bet because he would be well rested after not being eligible to race in the Kentucky Derby.
Muth, the 8-5 morning line favorite for the @PreaknessStakes is OUT of race. HOF trainer Bob Baffert said horse spiked a temperature of 103 after arriving in Baltimore Tuesday night. Baffert said Muth has already started to recover but “we’re not taking any chances,” he said.
— Tim Wilkin (@tjwilkin) May 15, 2024
Muth is trained by the controversial Bob Baffert, whose horses are still banned from Churchill Downs races since the 2021 Kentucky Derby. National Treasure, last year’s Preakness winner, was a Baffert horse who focused on the Preakness, and I was expecting a similar showing from Muth, who defeated Mystik Dan in March’s Arkansas Derby.
Baffert has another horse in the race — Imagination, who I will include on my betting ticket.
Mystik Dan is one of three horses who raced in the Kentucky Derby and are in the Preakness field along with Catching Freedom and Just Steel. Catching Freedom, my second favorite horse two weeks ago in Louisville, finished fourth out of 20 horses in one of the more memorable Kentucky Derby finishes in recent memory.
I’m going to go back to betting on Catching Freedom, who won the Louisiana Derby earlier this year. Another horse I’m going to include in my bets is Tuscan Gold, who finished third in the Louisiana Derby behind Catching Freedom and trendy Kentucky Derby bet Honor Marie.
Right now, I’m looking to bet Catching Freedom, Tuscan Gold and Imagination in exactas and trifectas. I’m going to take a stand against Mystik Dan, who I expect to be overvalued when public money flows in on the Kentucky Derby winner before post.