Throughout much of Preakness Stakes (G1) history, the 1 3/16-mile race has been won by Kentucky Derby (G1) participants, and understandably so.
The Derby is regularly the top-rated dirt race for 3-year-olds in North America, drawing the cream of the division and a deep field of up to 20 horses. So it stands to reason that many Preakness winners would exit that race, two-week turnaround or not, compared to a lesser stakes race contested weeks earlier.
But since the turn of the century, amid a shift from trainers to provide their horses with more spacing between starts, non-Derby participants have captured seven runnings of the Preakness when it has been contested during its customary placement on the third Saturday in May, 14 days after the Derby. (The 2020 Preakness, won by the filly Swiss Skydiver, was postponed until early October, a month after a September Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks (G1), due to the onset of COVID-19.)
Spring winners of the Preakness this century that did not race in the Derby include Red Bullet (2000), Bernardini (2006), Rachel Alexandra (2009), Cloud Computing (2017), Rombauer (2021), Early Voting (2022), and National Treasure (2023).
All of them had more spacing between starts than their Derby rivals, having all previously raced in April, with the exception of Rachel Alexandra, who wheeled back to defeat Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird in the Preakness 15 days after she won the Kentucky Oaks by 20 1/4 lengths.
Granted, it becomes easier for fresh horses to win the Preakness when fewer horses return from the Derby to compete in the Preakness at Pimlico Race Course. Last year Derby winner Mage was the only horse from the Run for the Roses to turn around and race a couple of weeks later. This year, there are three such horses in the May 18 Preakness, led by Derby winner Mystik Dan.
The latter lost his only prior race when racing on about a two-week turnaround, finishing fifth in an allowance optional claiming race last fall at Churchill Downs. Trainer Kenny McPeek believes a lung infection that was discovered after the race was to blame for the colt's substandard effort.
Perhaps a bit fatigued from the Derby, Mage's rally stalled last year and he finished 2 1/4 lengths behind National Treasure and runner-up Blazing Sevens, both of whom were more rested.
Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who runs Pat Day Mile Stakes (G2) winner Seize The Grey and Kentucky Derby 17th-place finisher Just Steel in the Preakness, both on two weeks of rest, said during a National Thoroughbred Racing Association teleconference last week that he believes "the game has changed."
"You know, back in the early (days), we ran those horses ... back in two weeks and didn't have a lot of concern," the 88-year-old trainer said. "I had really good luck in my six winners, knowing I thought (they) would run better in the Preakness than they did in the Derby. And I got accused, sometimes, of using the Kentucky Derby for a prep race for the Preakness.
"But I think that the general thought, with trainers nowadays, the younger trainers, is that they are a little bit protective of the horses. And they are a little bit reluctant to maybe try something like that. Same thing with fillies. But the other thing is, I think we're breeding horses that are probably a little bit more geared to speed. And they probably don't adapt to two long races in a two-week gap, as well, either."
Trainer Chad Brown, who narrowly missed winning the May 4 Kentucky Derby with late-running runner-up Sierra Leone, is a participant in this year's Preakness, though not with that horse, who is pointed to the June 8 Belmont Stakes (G1),
Brown runs the thrice-raced Tuscan Gold, whose last race was eight weeks ago when he was a wide third in the Louisiana Derby (G2).
Brown began considering the Preakness soon after the race, and after toying with running him in last week's Peter Pan Stakes (G3), he settled on racing at Pimlico.
Brown, a four-time Eclipse Award winner, is 2-1-0 with six starters in the Preakness, having struck with Cloud Computing and Early Voting, both newcomers to the Triple Crown. His runner-up finish came with Blazing Sevens last year, who fell just short in a photo finish with the Bob Baffert-trained National Treasure.
Baffert is again represented this year, though only one of his two entrants remains in the race: Imagination. His other entrant, Muth, was scratched after Baffert said the colt ran a fever after long cross-country travel to Pimlico.
Both horses had the race records to start in the Derby but could not compete, owing to Churchill Downs Inc.'s ongoing ban of Baffert from competition at its tracks, an action that followed Baffert's Medina Spirit testing positive for a prohibited medication on race day in the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Medina Spirit was disqualified and placed last.
Like National Treasure before last year's Preakness, Imagination exits the Santa Anita Derby (G1). National Treasure was fourth last year, while Imagination finished a couple of spots better, running second to Stronghold, ultimately the seventh-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby.
"We would like to have won it. But I liked the fact that he gutted it out pretty well," Baffert said the Santa Anita Derby on the NTRA teleconference. "He's still learning; we're learning more about him."
Baffert believes Imagination "needs a target," though he is not certain to get another horse to chase in the Preakness. Imagination, a son of Into Mischief , appears to be one of the speedier horses in the field by running style and pace figures. After leading up the backstretch, he held on to win the San Felipe Stakes (G2) this year.
Drawn outside, it should be relatively easy for Frankie Dettori to rate him off a rival if one is hustled up to his inside, or Imagination could take the lead by default if the pace is slow.
Closing from the back of the pack figures to be Catching Freedom, who grabbed fourth in the Derby. He enjoyed a favorable ground-saving trip in that race under Flavien Prat, following Mystik Dan on the second turn and through the stretch.
With six weeks between his win in the Louisiana Derby and the Kentucky Derby, he might be a bit better able to handle the two-week turnaround than some of his counterparts.
Trainer Brad Cox is not one to typically run his graded stakes horses back quickly. He has run just two graded stakes horses on 14 days or shorter rest over the past five years, according to Equibase Race Lens statistics.
One of the two, Tawny Port, was successful, taking the 2022 Lexington Stakes (G3) on two weeks of rest in an effort to secure sufficient qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby, where he would finish seventh. The other short-rested graded starter, Arklow, ran fourth in the 2020 United Nations (G1T), six days after finishing sixth in the Elkhorn Stakes (G2T).
