BALTIMORE -- The Kentucky Derby winner Mage became an even stronger favorite to continue his Triple Crown bid in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico with the revelation Friday that First Mission would be scratched from the race due to an injury to his left hind ankle. First Mission, winner of the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes in his last start, was the 5-2 second choice on the morning-line behind Mage, who will likely now drop below even-money come post time. The scratch of First Mission left the Preakness with just a field of seven, the smallest since 1986 when seven went to post and Snow Chief beat Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand. Mage is the only one of 18 horses who ran in the Kentucky Derby to come back in the Preakness. This marks the first time since 1948 -- the year Citation won the Triple Crown -- that only one horse from the Derby ran back in the Preakness. Mage won the Kentucky Derby in just his fourth start, becoming just the third horse to do that in 107 years. His connections believe they still have a fresh, improving horse for the Preakness. “The fact he’s got only four races is playing on his side,” Gustavo Delgado Jr., son of and assistant to his father, the trainer Gustavo Delgado Sr., said. “Horses tend to improve with each race, especially that fourth, fifth, and sixth race. My feeling is he’s getting better. He came back from the last race very good. He’s been very professional with everything here; nothing we can say is a concern.” Delgado Jr. said he is not too worried about the seeming lack of pace in the race, and admits he doesn’t know if Mage will regress off his career-best effort in the Derby. “I don’t think any trainer is 100 percent sure that [their horse] is not going to regress, but we can say he’s giving all signs that are positive and that he’s going to run well,” he said. Mage will break from post 3 under Javier Castellano. National Treasure, who hasn’t run since he finished fourth in the Santa Anita Derby, is now expected to be the second choice in the wagering. He also looks to be the primary speed under John Velazquez from the rail. Trainer Bob Baffert is adding blinkers to National Treasure’s equipment, the third time he is trying that equipment on the horse. Baffert said the horse has run “in spurts” in many of his races. Thought Baffert has won the Preakness seven times, all seven were horses who ran in the Kentucky Derby. Baffert has started six horses in the Preakness that did not run in the Derby. None of them won. “When you come with the Derby winner you have a little bit of an edge because your horse has gone a mile and a quarter, he’s pretty fit,” Baffert said. “Missing the Derby, it’s a different feeling. I really think Mage is the horse to beat. He ran a big race, he’s getting better, he’s lightly raced.” :: Get ready to bet the Preakness! Join DRF Bets and score a $250 Deposit Match + $10 Free Bet + Free PPs - Promo code: WINNING Blazing Sevens, who won the Grade 1 Champagne at age 2, will look to give trainer Chad Brown his third Preakness victory, all since 2017. Cloud Computing, who won that year, and Early Voting, who won this race last year, both were held out of the Kentucky Derby to run in the Preakness. Brown is using that same method this year after Blazing Sevens finished third in the Grade 1 Blue Grass following a non-effort in the Fountain of Youth to begin his 3-year-old season. “I feel like I have him as good as I could possibly have the horse for the race,” Brown said. “He’s got good spacing, he’s working as good as he’s ever worked, and he really doesn’t have any excuses. He just has to go over there and handle the Pimlico surface, handle the mile and three-sixteenths.” Irad Ortiz Jr. rides Blazing Sevens from post 7. Red Route One, trained by Steve Asmussen, earned an automatic berth into the Preakness by virtue of winning the Bath House Row Stakes at Oaklawn on April 22. He will likely try to come from last under Joel Rosario. His last two have come with blinkers. “I think there’s more there,” Asmussen, a two-time Preakness winner said. “I’m hoping with winning we get a chance to see it. We have not yet gotten to the bottom of him by any means.” Perform, trained by Shug McGaughey, weaved his way through the field to win the Federico Tesio in the final jump at Laurel Park on April 15. Off that performance, McGaughey convinced his owners to put up a $150,000 supplemental fee to run in the Preakness. That money goes to the purse, making the Preakness worth $1.65 million. McGaughey said he’s not overly concerned about the apparent lack of pace in the Preakness. “If it’s slow, we probably won’t be as far back,” he said. “In the Tesio, he stumbled and he wasn’t that far back in his maiden race at Tampa and was able to finish. It’s not really a big concern.” Locally based Feargal Lynch has the call. Coffeewithchris is the local equine hopeful. Trained by John Salzman Jr., who is also part owner, Coffeewithchris won the Miracle Wood Stakes in February and is coming off a fifth-place finish in the Tesio, in which he set the pace breaking from the rail. “This horse seems to be a little better with a target,” Salzman said. “In the Tesio, horses went by him but he didn’t quit. He dug back in and got beat two lengths.” Chase the Chaos, trained by Ed Moger Jr., won the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate in February. Since then, he’s finished seventh in the San Felipe on dirt at Santa Anita and eighth in the California Derby over Golden Gate’s synthetic surface. The Preakness goes as race 13 on a 14-race card that begins at 10:30 a.m. and includes nine stakes races. The Preakness, which will be shown on NBC, is expected to go off at 7:01. :: DRF's Preakness Headquarters: Contenders, latest news, and more After a mostly beautiful week, the Saturday forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies with temperatures in the mid-to-upper 70s. There is a 60 percent chance of early evening showers. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.