Preakness Pick

I'm once again out of town for the Preakness... but likelihood of me seeing the race live is actually goes up. I'm using the race in my betting challenge and used 5 horses there. Those are also the 5 horses I like in the race. Even though Nyquist is the horse to beat... I'm going to try do so with three horses, one I'm pretty confident in, the other two have some question marks, but could be interesting.

The horse I'm the most confident in who could beat Nyquist is Uncle Lino. On paper his record is not up to Nyquist's record. However he was 3rd in the SA Derby and won a stakes last time out. Like the Derby winner he is by Uncle Mo (who has with 4 starters all together), but his dam is more interesting. Haysee is unraced and she is by Orientate who did his best running sprinting. However her female family is not a sprinting family. In fact Lino gets his stamina from his second dam Oatsee. Her name may sound familiar in the fact she is the dam to 2011 Preakness winner Shackleford. In addition Haysee's full sister (Shack is only a 1/2 bro to her) Lady Joanne won the 2007 Alabama.

The first of the two that I think could win is the one with the most question marks. Stradivari has the pedigree (by MDO out of a G1 placed mare Bending Strings) the go a mile and 3 sixteenths. In fact he's already one at a mile and eighth. His problem is only 3 starts under belt.

The other horse who I think have a chance is a longshot by the name of Fellowship. He's by the same sire as 2yo champion Awesome Feather (Awesome of Course), but his race record is quite good. Yes he was 4th in his lone start outside of Florida, but he was 3rd in both the Fountain of Youth (won by Mohaymen) and the Florida Derby (which Nyquist won). The distance maybe a little bit too long for him, but the fact that he has experience against top horses is why I somewhat like him here.

Yes I know it's supposed to rain, and Exaggerator was won on a sloppy track. Honestly though that was on a track that doesn't get much rain during the year. Plus the runner up finishers in the Derby don't have the best of luck in the other 2 legs in recent memory (Firing Line, Commanding Curve, Golden Soul ran poorly in their next TC race). In fact you have to go back to 2003 to find a Derby runner up that won a TC race (Empire Maker in the Belmont).

So who wins? Once again I'm swinging for the fences... with Nyquist. Ha gotcha! Yeah I think that unless they gang up on him, wins for fun. Stradivari for second and Exaggerator/Uncle Lino/Fellowship for third.

Good luck to all and may everyone come back safe and sound!