Horse Racing Fantasy Community

Joe Talamo Says:

The 136th running of the $1 Million Preakness Stakes features a field of 14 runners and is led by Derby winner Animal Kingdom. His connections seem to be pretty confident that he can repeat and he surely is the one to beat. He has never run a bad race in five career races and he is reportedly doing very well. Other Derby runners he will face include Dialed In, who was 5-1 in the Derby but was the victim of the slowest pace in over 50 years but came from dead last and made a nice run at the end, but just didn\'t have enough pace to close into. He had won three of four starts with a second place finish prior to the Derby and has a good chance to rebound in the Preakness. Mucho Macho Man is a crowd favorite and ran on gallantly to get third place in the Derby. He is the youngest of the bunch, being a June foal and ran his best race to date in the Derby - he will get nothing but better and he still has a few lengths to make up on Animal Kingdom though, but he just might be improving at the right time. The forgotten horse is Midnight Interlude, the Baffert trainee who had absolutely no response in the Derby and finished 16th of 19 horses. He did win the G1 Santa Anita Derby and does have latent talent in him - he will be overlooked here and he will probably run a much better race than last time. The last runner from the Derby is Shackleford, who outran his 23-1 odds to some extent, finishing fourth after setting a very slow pace. He has shown that he can handle a faster pace however, as he did when finishing second to Dialed In in the Florida Derby. Animal Kingdom will face 9 new runners including Astrology who has finished in the money in all seven of his career starts. Astrology most recently ran second in the G2 Jerome and has been showing a steady increase in ability. This son of A.P. Indy drew the rail and just might surprise a few people. King Congie almost won a Grade 1 in his last start the Bluegrass Stakes, but was bothered late and finished third losing only by a head. He has been running on turf and synthetic lately and will have to transfer his form to the dirt. Flashpoint won the G2 Hutchenson before fading in the longer Florida Derby. He is better than his last effort suggested, but he may have distance limitations beyond a mile. Flashpoint will be a likely pacesetter along with Dance City who hung tough to get third in the G1 Arkansas Derby. The horse that ran runner up in that race, Nehro, got second in the Derby so it was a pretty strong race. Rounding out the field are Norman Asbjornson, runner up in the G3 Gotham, Sway Away, who is looking for his first graded win, Concealed Identity, the Tesio winner who is now two for two over Pimlico. Isn\'t He Perfect and Mr. Commons are long shots looking for their first graded stakes wins.