Kentucky Derby winners often are well backed in the Preakness, but they have been deserving of their mutuel support. Ten of the last 20 Preakness Stakes have been won by the Derby winner, with seven other Preakness winners being beaten runners from the Derby.
Always Dreaming's superiority in the Derby goes beyond the fact that, after being involved in a strong early pace, he ran away from his 19 opponents to score by a decisive 2 3/4 lengths. You needed a search party to find everyone else who was around him early, and yet he won off.
When a fresh face to the Triple Crown arrives on the scene at the Preakness, there is always a degree of interest, with people wondering, “Is this perhaps the horse that can beat the Kentucky Derby winner?” Yet far more often than not over the past 20 years these “new shooters” have been horses to avoid in the win betting for the Preakness.
TimeformUS handicapper David Aragona provides his Highlight Horse for Wednesday's card at Belmont Park.
TimeformUS handicapper David Aragona highlights some contenders on Wednesday's card at Belmont Park.
Each week, TimeformUS Chief Figure Maker Craig Milkowski takes a look back at the weekend’s graded stakes and releases the TimeformUS Speed Figures for these races.
Gierkink: Woodbine horses to watch for week of May 15
Goldfeder: What was I thinking? for May 16, 2017
Trip Notes by Michael Hammersly for stakes races run on May 13-14.
Free: Santa Anita horses to watch for week of May 15
