Question of the day: Who will win the Preakness?
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Reporters from around the Tribune family tackle the question of the day, then you get a chance to leave a comment and tell them why they are wrong.
John Cherwa, Los Angeles Times
The smart thing when handicapping the Kentucky Derby is to throw out the obvious best horse. Too many things can go wrong. When picking for the Preakness, you just look for the best horse. And in that department the likely choice to win is Lookin at Lucky, the snakebit Bob Baffert horse who was still competitive in two races marked by disasterous trips. Saturday, with new rider Martin Garcia, will be his day, especially breaking from the middle of the field in the seven spot.
Underneath Lucky in the exacta and tri, give thought to favorite Super Saver, the Derby winner who should benefit from little expected early pace; Paddy O’Prado, who finished third in the Derby and for value take a shot with Schoolyard Dreams, who beat Super Saver in the Tampa Bay Derby. He’s also had two straight bullet workouts.
Updated at 10:42 a.m.
Neil Milbert, Chicago Tribune
Better late than never, I’m picking Super Saver to win the Preakness.
In what seemed a wide-open Kentucky Derby, I had a hunch that he would run a good race but my hunch that Awesome Act would run a better race turned out to a hoax and, alas, I wound up with the 19th place finisher instead the winner.
Although Super Saver’s record suffers when stacked up against that of such recent Kentucky Derby/Preakness winners as Smarty Jones and Big Brown, the injury to his stablemate Eskendereya has left us with a poor crop of 3-year-olds. Super Saver has the early speed that is a significant asset in a race with a relatively big field and, in addition to excelling at Churchill Downs, he has run creditable races at Saratoga, Belmont, Tampa Bay Downs and Oaklawn Park.
Tom Jicha, Sun Sentinel
There’s no immediately apparent reason why Super Saver shouldn’t add the Preakness to his Kentucky Derby jewel and head to Belmont gunning for the Triple Crown. He meets a less accomplished group in Baltimore than he did in Louisville.
But it should not be overlooked that Calvin Borel worked out a perfect trip in the Derby and Super Saver might love Churchill as much as Borel does. Todd Pletcher’s colt is two-for-two there but one-for-five elsewhere. Meanwhile, Lookin at Lucky, who was virtually eliminated when he drew the deadly one post in the Derby, has lucky No. 7, an ideal starting slot, for the Preakness. He’ll be a better price than Super Saver, too. Go for it.