The 2024 Preakness Stakes (Saturday, 6:50 p.m. E T, NBC) will mark the 149th running of the Triple Crown horse race at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. With the Preakness post positions
set, it’s time to break down the field, which includes Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan in his quest for the second jewel.
Mystik Dan (20-1 in the Derby) won at Churchill Downs in an upset photo finish victory over Sierra Leone (second at 2-1) and Forever Young (third at 10-1). Now all eyes will be on the 3-year-old bay colt to build on that momentum at the Preakness before trying to win the Triple Crown at the Belmont Stakes in June.
Here’s looking at the three Derby entries and six fresh horses in the Preakness and whether Mystik Dan can remain in the winner’s circle after the shortest Triple Crown race (1 1/16 miles) ahead of the longest one:
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Here are the odds for the nine horses competing in the 2024 Preakness Stakes. Along with Mystik Dan, Catching Freedom (4th) and Just Steel (17th) also competed in and finished the Kentucky Derby, while early favorite Muth was scratched midweek because of illness
| Post position | Horse | Odds |
| 1 | Mugatu | 20-1 |
| 2 | Uncle Heavy | 20-1 |
| 3 | Catching Freedom | 6-1 |
| 4 | Muth | SCR |
| 5 | Mystik Dan | 5-2 |
| 6 | Seize the Grey | 15-1 |
| 7 | Just Steel | 15-1 |
| 8 | Tuscan Gold | 8-1 |
| 9 | Imagination | 6-1 |
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Mystik Dan didn’t go in as the favorite, with that honor going to Muth, who was racing right next to him at No. 4 before the scratch. Now Mystik Dan is a stronger contender despite winning only one of two previous races at the Preakness distance. Mystik Dan has three victories in seven total starts, including the Derby.
In two of the four other races, he’s seen Catching Freedom (2024 Smarty Jones) and Muth (2024 Arkansas Derby), now scratched, win. Mystik Dan also renews a consistent rivalry with Just Steel. Given how the competition is stacked and tight with him, Mystik Dan faces a major challenge with less of a stretch run.
2. Catching Freedom
Catching Freedom has something Muth doesn’t — the experience of racing well against Mystik Dan in the Kentucky Derby. The Brad H. Cox-trained horse just finished out of show behind Forever Young. He has three previous wins from various distances at Fair Grounds (Louisiana Derby), Oaklawn Park (Smarty Jones), and Churchill Downs (MSW). Catching Freedom can catch fire again on a fourth track.
1. Bob Baffert
Baffert has owned the Preakness. He has a career-best eight Triple Crown victories at Pimlico going back to 1997 and just trained National Treasure to victory in 2023. Once again, he can attack with a fresh horse raring to show off his speed. Unfortunately, his favorite, Muth had to be scratched, but he still has a fair fighter’s chance with Imagination at No. 9.
2. D. Wayne Lukas
He’s once again the trainer of two horses in the field, Just Steel and Seize The Grey. He has had six Preakness-winning entries, but notably none since Oxbow 11 years ago in 2023.
3. Chad C. Brown
Much younger than Baffert (71) and Lukas (88), the 45-year-old Brown already has two Preakness victories under his belt, including Early Voting in 2022 and Cloud Computing in 2017. He should have a better than long shot with Tuscan Gold.
1. Joel Rosario
Rosario is looking for his elusive career Triple Crown, having won once at Kentucky Derby (Oxbow, 2013) and twice at Belmont (2014 and 2019). He can be a key factor in this Preakness with the upset-minded Just Steel from No. 7.
2. Flavien Prat
Prat, 31, has two Triple Crown victories, one in the Derby with Country House in 2019 and another at the Preakness with Rombauer in 2021. He is well positioned to make more noise with Catching Freedom.
3. Tyler Gaffalione
Tuscan Gold has more than just Brown on his side. Gaffalione also is a previous Preakness winner with War of Will in 2019.
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Just Steel
Just Steel has made 12 starts and although he has won only twice, he also has four second-place finishes and a third-place result. That means he’s been a contender in more than half his races going into a potentially lucky 13th. Before fading the Derby, he was right there with Mystik Dan twice with shorter distances at Oaklawn Park.
No. 4: Muth won’t be restoring the power of four and neither will another horse. The inside post had a long drought until filly Swiss Skydiver made it two wins in 14 years in 2020, following up Curlin’ from 2007. No. 4 was notably bad for Derby winner Always Dreaming in 2017, but that is anomalous, given it has produced 14 winners since 1909.
No. 5: Mystik Dan should take notice: Early Voting made it now three wins from here in 13 years as the Preakness winner in 2022, joining Exaggerator in 2016 and Shackelford in 2011.
No. 6: Rombauer made it three wins from here in 15 years by taking the 2021 Preakness, joining Oxbow in 2013 and Big Brown from 2008. Seize the Grey can use this to seize the day as the other Lukas horse.
No. 7: This was fortunate for Justify in ’18 and for another Bob Baffert horse, Looking at Lucky in ’10. Since Sunday Silence in ’89, six horses have won from No. 7, good for 17 percent over a 35-year span. That should give Just Steel some confidence to go with the Derby experience.
No. 1: Somewhere in the middle has been consistently the best spot, but the lowest number has been kind of late, as National Treasure won from No. 1 for Baffert last year. War of Will upset Improbable out of No. 1 in 2019. American Pharoah also won from No. 1 on its way to the Triple Crown in ’15. It’s unlikely Mugatu taps into this history.
No. 3: This position helped California Chrome win the Preakness in 2014, but the previous winner had been Prairie Bayou in 1993. Catching Freedom didn’t catch a break here.
No. 2: Cloud Computing produced a shocker from here in 2017, ending a long drought from when Snow Chief won in 1986. Uncle Heavy might have too much of a burden to overcome here.
Thirteen horses have won the Triple Crown, finishing off the Derby and the Preakness by also taking the Belmont Stakes, most recently Justify in 2018. Another 24 have won the first two jewels before failing to make history at Belmont. Baffert had this happen twice right before Justify and American Pharoah (2015) won Triple Crowns for him: I’ll Have Another in ’12 and California Chrome in ’14.
Since Justify’s Triple Crown, there have been 17 Triple Crown races with 17 unique winners, with no horse taking even two jewels. Mystik Dan will attempt to reverse that trend and create that rare, special opportunity to take all three at Belmont.
Here is the projected order of finish at the 2024 Preakness Stakes:
Mystik Dan’s bid for a Triple Crown will end in tricky fashion. There’s just too much star power here helping some fast competitive horses, a few that know him rather well from previous encounters. When there’s a doubt, a best bet is a Baffert bet, but in this case, Imagination doesn’t have the juice that Muth did. Tuscan Gold also has some good momentum to make major noise outside with its power combination while Just Steel will get back on the board with a strong finish.
