Larry Collmus has become entrenched as the premier Thoroughbred race-caller in North America, but he always feels humbled when returning home to Pimlico Race Course to call the Preakness for NBC Sports.
Despite giving his connections and supporters some anxious moments during training hours in the days leading up to the big event, ALWAYS DREAMING showed up cool and calm in the paddock, then validated the notion that he is the best of his division at the present time with a decisive victory in the Kentucky Derby.
As Always Dreaming makes his way to Pimlico to take his shot at the second jewel in racing's Triple Crown, it is worth looking back to where he started in order to try to predict what we may get from him Saturday.
With a better trip two weeks ago, Classic Empire might have given Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming a battle. But the only luck Classic Empire had in the Derby was bad luck.
The Preakness Stakes historically has been dominated by runners exiting the Kentucky Derby, but this year a couple of new shooters present interesting cases if you are inclined to take a shot against the likely favorites.
Always Dreaming, the Kentucky Derby winner, drew post 4 and his main rival, Classic Empire, will start right alongside side him in post 5, those two among a field of 10 set on Wednesday to go in the 142nd Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico.
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.
New Mexico horse owner and breeder Tom McKenna did the practically unheard of when he skipped the Kentucky Derby with Conquest Mo Money and let someone else take his spot in America's most famous race. On Saturday, Conquest Mo Money will jump back into the pool as one of the longer prices in the Preakness.
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.
