BALTIMORE — Mage’s path to a potential Triple Crown is not an easy one.
The Kentucky Derby winner opened as the favorite for Saturday’s 148th running of the Preakness Stakes, but Mage will have to top a talented field — albeit small in number — to become the first horse to take the first two Triple Crown races since Justify won them all in 2018.
The race changed when First Mission, a top contender trained by Brad Cox, was scratched Friday morning, eliminating the early second choice and leaving only seven horses to run. The result will depend on how Mage handles the two-week turnaround, what pace develops and whether Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano, who ended an 0-for-15 skid in the Kentucky Derby with his victory at Churchill Downs, can set up another winning trip down the stretch.
Saturday’s post time at Pimlico Race Course is 7:01 p.m. The forecast is for highs in the upper 70s and includes the possibility of rain throughout the day, leading up to the start of the $1.65 million race.
Mage, purchased for $290,000 a year ago up the road from Pimlico at a sale in Timonium, is making just his fifth career start after not running as a 2-year-old but winning his debut Jan. 28 in Florida. He joined Justify as the only Kentucky Derby winners not to run as 2-year-olds since Apollo in 1882.