Preakness Stakes 2023: Take a look at the horses in Saturday’s race
Mage’s chances to advance to the Belmont Stakes with an opportunity to become the 14th Triple Crown winner appeared to get easier on Friday, when First Mission was scratched from the Preakness Stakes.
Mage won the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago as the No. 8 choice among bettors. None of the 17 colts that Mage defeated at Churchill Downs made the trip to Pimlico Race Course for Saturday’s race, and Mage was made an 8-5 morning-line favorite for the Preakness.
At 5-2, First Mission came to Pimlico off a victory in the Grade 3 Lexington Stakes to make it two wins and one second in his three career outings. But a left hind injury took First Mission out of the eighth gate.
That leaves the Preakness with seven entries, the smallest field since 1986. In that year’s race, Snow Chief defeated Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand by 4 lengths after finishing 11th in the Run for the Roses.
Since Justify won the Triple Crown in 2018, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes have had different winners annually.
Mage will try to equal his damsire’s feat of winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. Big Brown won both races in 2008, but the colt pulled up while running in the Belmont Stakes.
Based on the morning line, the top challengers to Mage now will be National Treasure and Blazing Sevens.
Blazing Sevens is trained by Chad Brown, who won last year’s Preakness with Early Voting, another colt that did not run in the Kentucky Derby. Like Mage, Blazing Sevens is a son of Good Magic, as is Preakness entrant Perform.
National Treasure is trained by Bob Baffert. The Preakness marks the return of Baffert to Triple Crown racing after being banned from the Kentucky Derby. Baffert is tied with R. Wyndham Walden for Preakness Stakes winners with seven. Baffert’s champions run from Silver Charm in 1997 to Justify in 2018. Walden’s last winner was Refund in 1888.
Post time for the Preakness Stakes is 5:50 p.m. CDT Saturday at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. NBC will televise the race.
The entries for the 148th Preakness Stakes by post position with morning-line odds include:
1. National Treasure 4-1
National Treasure led virtually wire-to-wire in his first race. But while the performance has improved since that race at Del Mar on Sept. 3, the colt hasn’t won again. All four races have been graded stakes. National Treasure ran third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 4 and is coming off a fourth-place finish, 3 lengths behind winner Practical Move, in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 8. Trainer: Bob Baffert, who won the Preakness in 1997 with Silver Charm, 1998 with Real Quiet, 2001 with Point Given, 2002 with War Emblem, 2010 with Lookin at Lucky, 2015 with American Pharoah and 2018 with Justify. Jockey: John Velazquez. Record: 5-1-1-2. Earnings: $345,000. Pedigree: Treasure by Quality Road.
2. Chase the Chaos 50-1
Chase the Chaos has run fast late in his three wins but hasn’t been a factor in his past two outings. The California gelding finished seventh in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on March 4 and eighth in the California Derby on April 29. Trainer: Ed Moger Jr. Jockey: Sheldon Russell. Record: 8-3-2-1. Earnings: $123,950. Pedigree: Live The Moment by Astern.
3. Mage 8-5
Mageis this year’s Triple Crown hopeful after winning the Kentucky Derby by 1 length on May 6. The colt didn’t race as 2-year-old, then won almost wire-to-wire with the second-longest odds in the field the first time out at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 28. The colt’s other two races were won by Forte, as Mage ran fourth in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes on March 4 and second by 1 length in the Grade 1 Florida Derby on April 1. Trainer: Gustavo Delgado. Jockey: Javier Castellano, who won the Preakness in 2006 on Bernardi and 2017 on Cloud Computing. Record: 4-2-1-0. Earnings: $2,107,200. Pedigree: Puca by Good Magic.
4. Coffeewithchris 20-1
Coffeewithchris is a well-campaigned gelding that has done most of his racing at Laurel Park, including a fifth-place showing in the Federico Tesio Stakes on April 15. Coffeewithchris’ most recent victory came on Feb. 18, when he won the Miracle Wood Stakes. Trainer: John Salzman Jr. Jockey: Jamie Rodriguez. Record: 12-3-3-2. Earnings: $225,600. Pedigree: Andiemac by Ride On Curlin.
5. Red Route One 10-1
Red Route One won the second time out, then tackled six graded stakes in a row without a first-place finish. Red Route One had back-to-back second-place finishes in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes on Jan. 28 and Grade 2 Rebels Stakes on Feb. 25 before a sixth-place showing at the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on April 1. Last time out, the colt won for the second time by beating Tapit Shoes by a head with a big stretch run in the Bath House Row Stakes on April 22 at Oaklawn. Trainer: Steve Asmussen, who won the Preakness in 2007 with Curlin and 2009 with Rachel Alexandra. Jockey: Joel Rosario. Record: 9-2-2-1. Earnings: $631,575. Pedigree: Red House by Gun Runner.
6. Perform 15-1
Perform has seven races at seven tracks, but the colt has found something the past two times out. After winning at Tampa Bay Downs on March 11, Perform won the Federico Tesio Stakes by a head after entering the stretch in sixth to punch his ticket to Saturday’s big race. The Preakness will be the colt’s graded-stakes debut. Trainer: Claude McGaughey III. Jockey: Feargal Lynch. Record: 7-2-1-1. Earnings: $130,956. Pedigree: Jane Says by Good Magic.
7. Blazing Sevens 6-1
Blazing Sevens had a bumpy ride in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes on March 4 that might have derailed the colt’s Kentucky Derby prospect. Blazing Sevens won two of his first three races, including a 3.25-length victory over Verifying in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes on Oct. 1, around a third-place run in the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes on Sept. 5 (12 lengths behind Forte). Blazing Sevens ran fourth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 4, this time 6.25 lengths behind Forte. In Blazing Seven’s most recent outing, the colt finished third behind Tapit Trice and Verifying in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes on April 8. Trainer: Chad Brown, who won the Preakness in 2017 with Cloud Computing and 2022 with Early Voting. Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr. Record: 6-2-0-2. Earnings: $565,250. Pedigree: Trophy Girl by Good Magic.
