Preakness Stakes: Mystik Dan continues bid for history in second leg of Triple Crown

CNN
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Mystik Dan will continue the hunt for history on Saturday, as the Kentucky Derby winner leads the field at this year’s Preakness Stakes.

The three-year-old upset the odds to edge out Sierra Leone and Forever Young in a dramatic photo-finish at Churchill Downs earlier this month and is now favourite to continue the winning streak at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland.

If Mystik Dan does win again at the Preakness Stakes, he will be in contention to become just the 14th horse in history to win the prestigious Triple Crown – the last leg is the Belmont Stakes on June 8.

Coverage of this year’s Preakness Stakes will begin at 4.30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. It will also be available at NBCSports.com and on the NBC Sports app.

The race itself is set to start at 7:01 p.m. ET.

Entering the race at 18-1 odds, Mystik Dan came out victorious after an incredibly close Kentucky Derby.

The eventual winner hit the front as the field turned for home and just held off the late challenge from both Sierra Leone and Forever Young – the three horses crossing the line almost together.

It was the 10th time in the race’s history a horse has won by a nose and the first since Grindstone in 1996, according to the NBC broadcast.

The Derby later said it was “the closest three-horse photo finish since 1947 when Jet Pilot finished a head in front of Phalanx and one length ahead of Faultless.”

“This is unbelievable. That was the longest few minutes I’ve ever felt in my life waiting for them to hang that number above us,” jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. said waiting for the official result after the race.

“It was exciting when we hit the wire but I wasn’t sure if we won so it was quite a rush to sit here and wait for it.”

Now attention swings to the Preakness with all eyes on whether Mystik Dan can keep alive hopes of a much coveted Triple Crown.

Fortunately for the team, the tall task has been made slightly easier after initial favorite Muth was ruled out of the race due to a spiking fever.

The Bob Baffert-trained horse was ineligible to run in the Kentucky Derby owing to Baffert’s ongoing ban at Churchill Downs, and Muth now misses its second high-profile race of the year.

Muth’s absence does once again clear the way for Mystik Dan, though, and the Derby winner is tipped as the most likely champion. According to CBS Sports, 49% of favorites have won the race since its debut in 1873.

Mystik Dan’s assistant trainer Ray Bryner assured the horse had recovered well from the Derby win and said he had a “huge chance” of winning the Preakness.

“He’s a natural. He’s laid back all the time but when the time comes he can switch it on and off, like a key in an ignition,” Bryner told reporters.

According to the odds, Mystik Dan will face the toughest challenges from the likes of Catching Freedom and the Baffert-trained Imagination but, as this year’s Kentucky Derby proved, any of the eight horses could take the win come Saturday.