The 149th Preakness (G1) is this Saturday, May 18, at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. The 1 3/16-mile race is the second leg of the Triple Crown. usracing.com is publishing profiles of the contenders.
2024 Preakness Stakes Contender MUTH
What stands out is a 6 ½-length victory over Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan in the Arkansas Derby.
Zedan Racing’s Muth and jockey Juan Hernandez
Will Muth give trainer Bob Baffert a ninth win in the second Jewel of the Triple Crown?
Muth, though considered the one to beat in the Preakness, hasn’t raced since that March 30 victory. No Derby for him since trainer Bob Baffert remains suspended by Churchill Downs, Inc.
Which Muth shows up in the second leg of the Triple Crown? Well, as Baffert likes to say, “You need good horses and I bring good horses. I am not going to fly cross-country with a 50-1 shot.”
Baffert, who also sends out Imagination, has a remarkable resume in the Preakness: a record eight victories, a pair of runner-up finishes and a pair of third-place finishes out of 28 starters.
National Treasure, who did not run in the 2023 Derby (Baffert suspension), came off a six-week layoff and went gate-to-wire and won the 2023 Preakness by a neck over Blazing Sevens, with Derby winner Mage third.
Muth pressed the pace in the 1 1/8-mile Arkansas Derby, took the lead into the stretch and beat Just Steel by two lengths, with Mystik Dan third. He comes into the race off a seven-week layoff.
“He runs, he shows up, he runs his race every time, first or second,’’ Baffert said. “He has a lot of quality. And he just keeps getting better and better. And his Arkansas Derby, he handled that really well, came back, wasn’t really tired.”
2024 Preakness Stakes Contenders, Odds, and Post Positions: Muth
Betting advice: Put your money where your Muth is.
Post position: SCRATCHED
Odds: 8-5
Jockey: Juan Hernandez
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Owners: Zedan Racing Stables
Career record: 6-4-2-0
Career earnings: $1,504,100
Most recent race: Arkansas Derby, March 30 (1st)
Top Equibase speed figure: 115
Pedigree: Good Magic-Hoppa, by Uncle Mo
Color: Bay
Running style: Up close
Notes: Purchased for $2 million at the Ocala Breeders’ 2-year-old sale … Muth also has victories in the American Pharoah Stakes and the San Vicente Stakes … He ran second to Fierceness in the BC Juvenile and to stablemate Prince of Monaco in the Best Pal Stakes … Juan Hernandez, who has been aboard Muth for all the colt’s starts, will be riding in his first Preakness.