Kentucky Derby winner Justify lines up as firm favourite for the Preakness Stakes

Bob Baffert’s star three year old defied wet conditions in the Kentucky Derby to dominate from the front under jockey Mike Smith, and the pair can expect similar conditions at Pimlico with rain and thunderstorms forecasted.

The Kentucky Derby hero will line up against seven rivals for the Preakness Stakes, the second leg on the US Triple Crown trail. However, an injury to his hind leg could hinder his chances as he was given a patch to protect a bruised hind leg after limping after the Derby.

The Preakness Stakes, the middle jewel of the Triple Crown, is run over 9½ furlongs, compared to the Kentucky Derby which is 1¼ miles. The race carries a purse of $1.5 million, with the historic $4 million Woodlawn Vase, created by Tiffany and Co. in 1860, awarded to the winner. It always attracts the Kentucky Derby winner, plus some of the other horses that ran in the Derby, and often a few horses that did not start in the Derby.

Justify was the first horse to win the Kentucky Derby having not run as a two-year-old, breaking the so-called “Curse of Apollo”, a reference to the last horse to achieve the feat in 1882.

Justify also has to defy that injury concern and a quick turnaround, just two weeks on from his Derby success. Chad Brown, trainer of Good Magic, who like Justify ran well at Churchill Downs for the runners-up spot, is well aware of both those elements, and jockey Jose Ortiz feels his horse can reverse the form.

Despite this all pre-race favouritism points to Justify, especially as the colt has won all four of his races as a three-year-old, and victory over the dirt at Pimlico would set up Mike Smith’s mount for the longer mile-and-a-half of the Belmont Stakes in New York in three weeks’ time.

Another U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee and legendary trainer, Darrell Wayne Lukas, could have a say in the matter as he has two entries in Bravazo, who was sixth in the Kentucky Derby and will line up in lane eight outside Justify, and Sporting Chance.

Another fancied contender is Quip, trained by Rodolphe Brisset, who missed the Derby but has won three of his five starts including the Tampa Bay Derby in March. However, the highly-fancied Audible, who was third in the Derby will be absent to further justify the claims of the favourite.

The last Triple Crown winner was American Pharoah in 2015, also saddled by 65-year-old Baffert who has won the Preakness Stakes six times, including with all four of his previous Kentucky Derby winners: Silver Charm (1997), Real Quiet (1998), War Emblem (2002) and American Pharoah (2015). However, only the latter was able to go on and secure the Triple Crown, the first horse to do so since Affirmed in 1978, something even the great California Chrome could not achieve after winning the Derby and Preakness in 2014.

Since 1932, the order of Triple Crown races has seen the running of the Kentucky Derby first, followed by the Preakness Stakes and then the Belmont Stakes. The Preakness is now traditionally run on the third Saturday in May, two weeks after the Kentucky Derby, and three weeks before the Belmont Stakes. Consequently, it can never be run before 15 May or after 21 May.

The 2018 Preakness Stakes is followed by the third leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, which this year is run on Saturday 9 June.