WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) - Kentucky Derby winner Authentic chases bragging rights in a coronavirus-disrupted campaign while his trainer, Bob Baffert, could make more horse racing history in Saturday's 145th Preakness Stakes.
Baffert could become the first trainer to win eight times in the famed 1 3/16ths of a mile (1,900m) Triple Crown classic for three-year-olds at Pimlico in Baltimore, Maryland.
Baffert shares the Preakness all-time win record with 19th-century trainer R. Wyndham Walden. Baffert's most recent Preakness victory was with Justify in 2018.
Authentic, which spoiled the Triple Crown bid of Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law last month at the Derby, could take two legs of the US flat racing treble in what has become a prep race for next month's Breeders Cup.
Oddsmakers fancy Authentic a 9-5 favourite in a field of 11 with a start from the ninth post and jockey John Velazquez aboard, just as he was in the Derby, where the colt held off Tiz the Law down the stretch.
"Even if he breaks a little slow, he's fast enough that he'll be on the lead sooner or later," said Velazquez, a veteran who has never ridden a Preakness winner.
"I've been chasing the race for quite a bit," he said.
Coronavirus pandemic safety rules limit the crowd to 250 people, owners and staff mainly, at an event where more than 131,000 people watched last year, many of them partying in the infield.
This year, it will be almost silent as the Triple Crown line-up was shuffled by the virus. Belmont was raced in June with only a two-week delay, the usual last race being first. The Derby, the traditional opener, was moved from May to September and the Preakness, the middle race, was shifted to October.
Always a focus after the Derby, the Preakness has been rendered an afterthought with no Triple Crown at stake.
Tiz the Law is not entered, owners and trainers preferring to skip the Preakness to better prepare and rest for the Breeders Cup Classic on November 7.
Art Collector, which starts from the third gate, is second with oddsmakers at 5-2. The third-favorites, both at 6-1, are Thousand Words, another Baffert horse leaving from the fifth gate, and filly Swiss Skydiver, leaving from gate four.
Art Collector is unbeaten in four 2020 races but makes his Triple Crown debut. The colt was scratched from the Derby with a nick in his left front heel.
"It's a good race," Art Collector trainer Thomas Drury said. "On any day, any of these horses can jump up and run a big race. You can see that from top to bottom."
Thousand Words flipped over in the paddock before the Kentucky Derby and was a late scratch, but Baffert took a record-tying sixth Derby win with Authentic.
Swiss Skydiver finished second to Art Collector in the Blue Grass Stakes. She will be the 55th filly to race in the Preakness and hopes to be the first to win it since Rachel Alexandra in 2009.
"If she wins a race like this you've got to include her possible Horse of the Year," trainer Kenny McPeek said. "I think it's a chance to make history."
