| 132nd Preakness Stakes Betting Odds |
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| Written by Robert Johnson | |||||||
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Thursday, 17 May 2007
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 The race for the 2007 Triple Crown resumes for Street Sense this Saturday, as he takes on a new batch of challengers (and a few familiar ones) in the 132nd running of the Preakness Stakes. For those who don't know, the Preakness differs slightly from the 2007 Kentucky Derby in that it is a shorter horse race. The Derby is 1 1/4 miles long, while the Preakness comes in at only 1 3/16 miles. Not a whole lot of difference, but enough to make it a whole different kind of horse racing. The favorite heading into the 2007 Preakness is of course the Derby champion, Street Sense. The three-year-old colt put on a masterful performance in the Derby, charging from 19th spot at the quarter pole to chase down the leaders and win by 2.5 lengths at the wire. Street Sense went against all the usual history of a Derby winner by becoming the first Derby champ that had also won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, and despite only running two prep races earlier in the season. Since Street Sense has already shown a knack for going against the history books, might he break the long-standing string of Triple Crown losers and finally replace Affirmed as the most recent Triple Crown winner? Standing in Street Sense's way before he can make it two in a row are some of his Derby competitors, most notably Hard Spun, Curlin and Circular Quay. Curlin suffered the first defeat of his career in the Derby after finishing third behind Street Sense and Hard Spun. Curlin was considered one of the favorites in the Derby, but his inexperience finally caught up with him. Prior to the Derby Curlin had only taken part in three horse races, however he had easily won all of them. It's not overly surprising that Curlin lost the Derby when you consider the last horse with only three races under his belt to win the Derby was Apollo way back in 1882. Will having four races in the race can make much of a difference for Curlin at Pimlico? Circular Quay was a late and somewhat surprising entry to the Preakness. Most experts expected his trainer, Todd Pletcher, to hold Circular Quay out of the Preakness and get him ready for the Belmont Stakes. Instead Circular Quay will try to make up for his disappointing sixth-place Derby finish in the Preakness. Circular Quay is the son of former Derby champion Thunder Gulch and even though he delivered an impressive win in the Louisiana Derby, he just didn't have it at Churchill Downs. The rest of the confirmed field at the Preakness includes CP West, King of the Roxy (Pletcher's other entry), Xchanger, Flying First Class and Mint Slewlep. None of these horses took part in the Derby, but don't forget that last year's Preakness champ, Bernardini, also sat out the Derby before making his winning run at Pimlico. WagerWeb.com has posted betting odds to win the 2007 Preakness Stakes: 1.) Mint Slewlep: +4000 2.) Xchanger: +2800 3.) Circular Quay: +600 4.) Curlin: +350 5.) King of the Roxy: +1500 6.) Flying First Class: +2800 7.) Hard Spun: +250 8.) Street Sense: -120 9.) CP West: +2800                        |
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 17 May 2007 ) | |||||||