It is the second jewel of Thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown called the Preakness Stakes where it annually attracts a few of the best three-year-old racehorses in the country to the Pimlico Racetrack in the state of Maryland. The Preakness Stakes betting event features a few race horses who ran in the Kentucky Derby two weeks before. There are also several three-year olds who skip the Derby. The new contenders that get to compete in the Triple Crown are often dubbed as the "new shooters."



check out this site The Preakness Stakes is a smaller race than the 20 horse stampede at the Kentucky Derby. It only has 14 horses. The Kentucky Derby winner in Churchill Downs is the middle jewel of Triple Crown. In Triple Crown tradition that's only unique to the Preakness, the contending horses are kept in a single barn called the Stakes Barn. As the Kentucky Derby winner, the horse gets the first stall at the Stakes Barn.


There are several factors to consider when determining which horses will be the Preakness Stakes' top contenders. First, Kentucky Derby winners often run well in Preakness Stakes. There have been four Derby winners--War Emblem in 2004, Funny Cide in 2003, Smarty Jones in 2004, and Big Brown in 2008--who went on to win the Preakness Stakes since 2000. Three "new shooters", Red Bullet, Bernardini, and Rachel Alexandra were all winners of the Preakness Stakes in 2000 and 2006. These results have been commonplace in the Preakness Stakes during the past decades.


Preakness Stakes candidates that did not get to race in the Kentucky Derby are usually late-blooming three-year olds who didn't make enough money or horses that couldn't withstand the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby.


Whatever the reasons are, one advantage these "new shooters" have over the others that raced in the Kentucky Derby is their fresh legs. Contemporary Thoroughbred racing has a two-week break between races, so top horses are rarely raced again. And this is besides the fact that these contenders just came off a race like the Kentucky Derby, which is, without a doubt, the toughest race a horse will ever have to go through.