BALTIMORE – There’s something more tangible, more solid, more exhilarating, about actually crossing under the wire in front of everyone else.

Yes, Flavien Prat won the 2019 Kentucky Derby when Country House was declared the winner via disqualification, but the unbridled joy he experienced Saturday in winning the Preakness made this brand new territory. Ooh la la, indeed.

“It does feel different,” Prat said on the NBC telecast moments after guiding Rombauer to a 3 1/2-length triumph in the 146th Preakness at Pimlico. “Oh, what a feeling.”

Total betting on the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on Saturday was a record $68.69 million, up 8.6 percent over the record set in 2005 for the same race and up 10.7 percent over the total amount bet the last time it was held on its traditional date, in 2019, according to charts of the races.

Complete order of finish from the 146th running of the Preakness Stakes on May 15, 2021, at Pimlico.

1st Rombauer
2nd Midnight Bourbon
3rd Medina Spirit
4th Keepmeinmind
5th Crowded Trade
6th Unbridled Honor
7th France Go de Ina
8th Risk Taking
9th Concert Tour
10th Ram

BALTIMORE - Trainer Bob Baffert didn’t come to Baltimore this week because he didn’t want Preakness 146 to be about him. Of course, the lead-up to the race was all about him and the failed medication test of his Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit.

For the first six furlongs of Saturday’s $1 million Preakness, Medina Spirit was doing his best to continue the drama. But early pace pressure from Midnight Bourbon had softened up Medina Spirit by the top of the stretch.

It’s Preakness Day, and if you haven’t done so yet, it’s time to pop open a new tab in your web browser and pull up the Pimlico past performances – DRF Formulator style.

“Daily Racing Form” and “past performances” are synonymous terms in Thoroughbred racing, and for several years now, DRF has been enhancing its digitized, sortable, interactive version of the past performances that racing bettors and fans have come to rely upon.

Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit, the 9-5 morning-line favorite for Saturday's Preakness Stakes, was the 3-1 second choice in early wagering as of 6:15 p.m. Eastern on Friday. 

Midnight Bourbon, sixth in the Derby, is the 5-2 favorite and also the chalk in the Black-Eyed Susan/Preakness Double will-pays. The double combining Black-Eyed Susan winner Army Wife (#1) and Midnight Bourbon (#5) would return $46.80 for a $2 wager. 

Medina Spirit and two other horses trained by Bob Baffert have cleared pre-race drug tests that were a requirement of the horses being allowed to run this weekend at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, the owner of the track said on Friday.

MIDNIGHT BOURBON came into the Kentucky Derby giving every indication he was sitting on a peak effort, having paired up career-best Beyer Speed Figures in the Risen Star and Louisiana Derby while training like a horse ready for yet another forward move. Expected to be forwardly placed coming by the grandstand the first time, Midnight Bourbon was nowhere to be found during the early going, essentially forfeiting all chance right off the bat in light of the way the race played out. He did well to beat 13 others, despite racing wide around both turns.

MEDINA SPIRIT showed his tactical ability when wiring them in the Derby, and it’s unlikely he’ll wind up dueling with his uncoupled stablemate Concert Tour going into the first turn. There’s a chance that Medina Spirit is in control of this Preakness on the backstretch, and he proved in the Derby that he is very tough to catch once he asserts himself up front. He holds a strong speed-figure edge over these and is simply the one to beat, albeit at a low price.

MEDINA SPIRIT probably just is too much for this moderate Preakness bunch – “probably” enough that I can’t quite get to legitimately trying to beat him even at the expected price, which is going to be much, much, much lower than the 12-1 at which those sharp enough to tab him in the Derby cashed. It seems impossible the two Bob Baffert-trained colts, Medina Spirit and Concert Tour, wind up dueling with one another.