Preakness Draw is 5 p.m. Wednesday

The post position draw will be at 5:00 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday for Saturday's Preakness Stakes (Grade 1) at Pimlico in Baltimore.

Scheduled post time is 6:20 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. The 1 3/16 mile Preakness is the second jewel of thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown for 3-year-olds.

As of Tuesday morning, it was expected that eight horses will be entered in the Preakness.

Heading the list are Justify and Good Magic, the winner and second place finisher in the 1 1/4 mile Kentucky Derby (Grade 1) on May 5.

Quip, a colt that did not run in the Kentucky Derby, probably will be the third betting choice in the Preakness.  

Quip won the Tampa Bay Derby (Grade 2) at Tampa Bay Downs on March 10 and finished second in the Arkansas Derby (Grade 1) at Oaklawn Park on April 14.

Quip was ninth in qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby.  But his trainer Rodolphe Brisset and his owners decided to give him an extra two weeks between races and point him toward the Preakness. 

In the Preakness regular jockey Jose Ortiz will ride Good Magic for trainer Chad Brown and regular jockey Mike Smith will ride the unbeaten Justify for trainer Bob Baffert. Regular jockey Florent Geroux will ride Quip.

Other likely Preakness starter are Bravazo, Lone Sailor, Diamond King, Sporting Chance and Tenfold.

Of those horses, only Bravazo (sixth) and Lone Sailor (eighth) ran in the Kentucky Derby.

Good Magic, Quip  and Diamond King are the only likely Preakness starters that have raced in Florida.

Good Magic finished third in the 1 1/16 mile Fountain of Youth Stakes (Grade 2) on March 3 at Gulfstream Park.   Last Nov. 4, he won the11/16 mile Breeders' Cup Juvenile (Grade 1) at Del Mar.

In his race prior to the Kentucky Derby, Good Magic won the 1 1/8 mile Bluegrass Stakes (Grade 2) at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

Diamond King finished third in the seven furlong Swale (Grade 3) at Gukfstream on March 3.  He later won the 1 1/8 mile Federico Tesio Stakes at Laurel Park on April 21.




--Jim Freer