Loading ...May 17 2024
Preakness 2024 at Pimlico Precap Past Performances, Picks, Predictions, Prognosis; Favorite Scratched. Bonus: Blackeyed Susan and Pimlico Special Friday
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The Preakness Stakes 149th edition will be held May 18, 2024 at Pimlico as usual, and will feature the Kentucky Derby champion Mystik Dan, who will not surprisingly be the favorite in this year’s edition.
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Preakness Stakes at Pimlico
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What is surprising is that Arkansas Derby champ Muth, who was the morning line favorite, has been scratched due to a fever. Muth was coming off a victory over Mystik Dan in the Arkansas Derby. But Baffert has one more colt up his sleeve: Imagination.
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In the Grid, Muth was the top ranked horse in almost every category including Power, but the Grid takes on a different shape. Now Mystik Dan will be a heavy favorite.
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Preakness 2024 Grid after scratch of Muth
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But he is not without some strong competition. Note that Imagination has a similar PF last out for his 2nd place finish in the Santa Anita Derby, in which he was nosed out by Stronghold, who finished a respectable 7th out of 20 Kentucky Derby entries and won’t race here.
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Rapidly improving and lightly raced Tuscan Gold was 3rd in the Louisiana Derby and figures to improve again for Chad Brown.
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Louisiana Derby champion Catching Freedom is another solid contender, closing strongly for 4th in the Kentucky Derby. He is also tied for the highest PF overall for the LAD win, tied with Mystik Dan’s brilliant Southwest Stakes win.
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Wayne Lukas, no stranger to Preakness wins even after his run of Kentucky Derby wins ended decades ago, enters with two talented colts named Seize the Grey and Just Steel, who went backwards in the Kentucky Derby from 2nd to 17th, after a strong 2nd in the Arkansas Derby.
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Seize the Grey is also interesting as a long shot, having not been in real contention in his prior races, until a brilliant win in the Pat Day Mile on the Kentucky Derby undercard. He ran that mile a full 1.5 seconds faster than Mystik Dan’s mile mark in the Derby.
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The other horse that has a shot at the board is Uncle Heavy, who won the Withers on a muddy track earlier this year.
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Which brings up a good point: track conditions. The tracks are running fast and good today on Friday and the sky is overcast. Overnight forecast has a strong possibility of rain, meaning that the track would start off the day wet. However, sunny skies should prevail tomorrow and the track will likely be fast by Preakness Post time.
As the lone speed horse, Imagination will try to take it on the front end with Seize the Grey and Just Steel in full pursuit. You wouldn’t be wrong with a nostalgic Baffert-Lukas exacta box which used to win every other year.
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For the trifecta, I would definitely include McPeek and Chad Brown in your boxes or wheels.
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Racing Friday is already underway as I’m about to watch the Miss Preakness sprint for 3yo fillies. The two big races today are the Pimlico Special G3 and the featured Black-Eyed Susan G2, which is the filly version of the Preakness. Here’s what the Grid looks like for those two races starting at 5:10PM.
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2024 Pimlico Special and Black Eyed Susan Grid
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On paper, or Grid for this matter, the Special looks like a 2 horse chalk race, but you would be remiss to dismiss the early speed contenders, especially Pyrenees.
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The Black Eyed Susan on the other hand, looks wide open. It wouldn’t surprise me if one of the favorites won, but I see Whocouldaskformo and Call Another Play as major contenders at good ML odds.
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Get the Full Preakness and Pimlico Grid Friday and Saturday here.
Good luck.
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