BALTIMORE – Muth beat Mystik Dan by 6 1/4 lengths in the Arkansas Derby two months ago at Oaklawn Park, and though the latter has since come back to win the Kentucky Derby, Muth was installed as the morning-line favorite over Mystik Dan for Saturday’s $2 million Preakness Stakes at Pimlico.
Muth drew post 4 and was made the 8-5 morning-line favorite in a field of nine on the line of both Daily Racing Form’s David Aragona and Preakness linemaker Brian Nadeau. Mystik Dan drew post 5 and was made the 3-1 second choice on Aragona’s line, 5-2 on Nadeau’s line.
The last time the Kentucky Derby winner ran in the Preakness and did not go off favored in the race was in 2012 when Derby winner I’ll Have Another won the race at 3-1 over Bodemeister, the 8-5 favorite. I’ll Have Another and Bodemeister had finished one-two in the Kentucky Derby.
Kenny McPeek, trainer of Mystik Dan, had no issue with being made the second choice.
“That’s only because the two ran against each other once and he got the better of us,” McPeek said. “It’s exciting, good to be a part of it.”
In the Arkansas Derby, Mystik Dan was drawn outside and was four wide into and around the first turn whereas Muth “got his own way on everybody,” McPeek said. “We ended up getting hit in the turn. I think it’s a pretty equal playing field with where we’re at.”
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Brian Hernandez Jr., who gave Mystik Dan a terrific ride in the Derby, will go for his first Preakness.
Muth has not run since winning the Arkansas Derby on March 30. He was not eligible to run in the Kentucky Derby owing to a ban of his trainer Bob Baffert by Churchill Downs dating back to the finding of the regulated substance betamethasone in the post-race sample of Medina Spirit, who crossed the finish line first in the 2021 Kentucky Derby but was ultimately disqualified.
Baffert has won the Preakness a record eight times, including last year with National Treasure, who won as the 5-2 second choice defeating Blazing Sevens by a head. Mage, the Kentucky Derby winner, finished third as the 7-5 favorite in a field of seven.
Muth, a son of Good Magic, has won 4 of 6 starts and finished second to Fierceness in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Baffert was fine with drawing post 4 on Saturday, one slot inside of Mystik Dan.
“The break, the first jump, that’s the most important thing,” he said. “Got to break and get there.”
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Baffert also will start Imagination, the Santa Anita Derby runner-up, who drew post 9 and was made the 8-1 fifth choice on Aragona’s line. Nadeau has Imagination as the 6-1 co-third choice along with Catching Freedom, the Louisiana Derby winner who drew post 3.
Catching Freedom, who finished fourth in the Kentucky Derby, was only confirmed Sunday as a Preakness starter by his trainer, Brad Cox.
Mystik Dan was the first horse to arrive at Pimlico, doing so Sunday. On Monday morning, he had his first training session over the track, galloping a mile over a sealed, muddy surface.
The Baffert runners are scheduled to arrive Tuesday afternoon.
Just Steel and Seize the Grey, the pair of runners from the barn of six-time Preakness-winning trainer D. Wayne Lukas, arrived at Pimlico on Monday afternoon.
Seize the Grey drew post 6, while Just Steel is in post 7. Just Steel finished 17th in the Kentucky Derby after finishing second behind Muth and ahead of Mystik Dan in the Arkansas Derby. Seize the Grey won the Pat Day Mile on the Derby undercard.
Tuscan Gold, third in the Louisiana Derby, drew post 8 for two-time Preakness-winning trainer Chad Brown.
Mugatu, fifth in the Blue Grass Stakes, and Uncle Heavy, the Grade 3 Withers winner who finished fifth in the Wood Memorial, drew posts 1 and 2.
The Preakness will go as race 13 on a 14-race card that includes eight other stakes and begins at 10:30 a.m.
149th Preakness Stakes
| Post | Horse | Jockey | ML Odds |
| 1. | Mugatu | Joe Bravo | 20-1 |
| 2. | Uncle Heavy | Irad Ortiz Jr. | 20-1 |
| 3. | Catching Freedom | Flavien Prat | 6-1 |
| 4. | Muth | Juan Hernandez | 8-5 |
| 5. | Mystik Dan | Brian Hernandez Jr. | 5-2 |
| 6. | Seize the Grey | Jamie Torres | 15-1 |
| 7. | Just Steel | Joel Rosario | 15-1 |
| 8. | Tuscan Gold | Tyler Gaffalione | 8-1 |
| 9. | Imagination | Frankie Dettori | 6-1 |
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