May 15 2021
Preakness Picks for Pricks. Precap, Past Performances, Pace Predictions, Possibilities
Preakness Picks for Pricks. Precap, Past Performances, Pace Predictions, Possibilities
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Saturday, May 15, 2021. It’s the 3rd Saturday in May and therefore it’s time once again for the Preakness Stakes. We’ll take a look at some past performances, pace predictions, and possibilities in today’s biggest race.
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Obviously Medina Spirit is going to be the favorite, and rightly so, as Baffert has won this race 6 of 7 times with the Kentucky Derby champion, all with a similar front running type of win, and his one loss was a second place finish last year. Bob also brings Concert Tour, a similar type of runner coming off a 3rd place in the Arkansas Derby, as the second ML choice.

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There is only one other early runner in the race, Midnight Bourbon, who coincidentally is also the 3rd ML choice at 5-1. He was a solid 6th in Kentucky after finishing in the money in two big-point preps for Asmussen. Between these 3 we’ve mentioned, they are the only ones that normally run up front.
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Rarely do 3 early speeders run top 3 or even top 4 in this race, so we definitely need a late runner. Enter Crowded Trade, actually a midpack runner, who at 10-1 would be the 4th ML favorite. He probably would have won the Wood for Chad Brown if not for chasing a dawdling pace. He has top LP and also the top PF in the Preakness Grid.

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Another good late runner is Risk Taking, who also faltered in the Wood trying to chase a non existent pace. But prior to that he won two 9f races for Chad Brown and has good closing runs normally.
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Rombauer is another strong late runner who has an improving PF in each of his 6 races for Mike McCarthy, resulting in a 3rd place finish in the Blue Grass stakes.
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The remaining 4 are certainly capable of rounding out the superfecta, but it’s a toss up and could go either way. Much of the time there is an unexpected long shot who breaks into the top 4, so it’s a good idea to key and wheel.
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That’s it for today, pricks. Good luck!