Preakness Stakes 2015: Do eight horses make a better race?
Kentucky Derby winner American Pharoah looks to make it six victories in a row when the thoroughbred lines up with seven other scheduled horses Saturday in the 140th annual Preakness Stakes.
The second leg of horse racing's Triple Crown in Baltimore will also feature horses that to Pharoah at the Derby 鈥� Firing Line and Dortmund.
Last year's Derby winner, California Chrome, was the . Chrome, however, fell short of the Triple Crown, finishing fourth in the Belmont Stakes.
The was Affirmed in 1978.
Victor Espinoza, American Pharoah's jockey, is also looking to go back-to-back for a second consecutive year. He was on board California Chrome during the 2014 Triple Crown season.
There will be less traffic to deal with over the mile and three-sixteenths course on Saturday as only eight horses are entered in the Preakness. That's ten fewer than started in the Derby, which is a mile and a quarter in length, two weeks ago. But the Preakness tends to have a smaller field than the Derby. : "With an average of 10.6 horses in a field, the Preakness is a more cleanly run race than the Derby."
But fewer horses doesn't mean a less competitive race. : "Small fields have not been kind to Triple Crown dreams. Over the past 25 years, the Derby winner has been beaten all five times when there were nine horses or fewer in the field. It happened most recently to聽Orb, in 2013."
聽In terms of field, American Pharoah drew the No. 1 post position for Saturday's race. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert isn't that excited about the starting spot.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 like the inside. I never like the one-hole. Sometimes they don鈥檛 break as well. He鈥檚 drawn the one-hole before at Santa Anita. When I was watching the draw and all these numbers were coming up, I go, 鈥楾his is not looking good.鈥� It鈥檚 the luck of draw. We鈥檙e there. I don鈥檛 love it, but they鈥檒l be easy to watch," on Wednesday.
Baffert also trains Dortmund, the horse that will come out of the second post position. To have both horses side by side at the start of the Preakness was a surprise to the veteran trainer.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 believe I drew the 1-2 of all draws. I鈥檓 just glad I didn鈥檛 draw that for the Derby. Sometimes you鈥檝e got to give a little," Baffert said to reporters.
Next to Pharoah and Dortmund will be another pair of Derby horses 鈥� and , who finished 13th and 5th respectively two weeks ago.
Then, we have a trio of thoroughbreds new to the Triple Crown mix this spring. , , and will occupy post positions five through seven for the Preakness after either not earning enough points to be entered into the Derby field or simply being held out of the fray.
Finally, Firing Line, with Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens aboard, will start from the No. 8 post position and get another chance at beating American Pharoah.
鈥淚f I can draw the trip up the same way that I would have drawn the draw up, then we're in good shape. I'm pretty pleased," .
The website also reports that this will be the first time the will have run in the Preakness Stakes since 2009.
The Preakness Stakes will be televised on NBC, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time Saturday. Post time for the race is scheduled for 6:19 p.m.
