BALTIMORE — Much of the attention leading up to the 147th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course focused less on the horses racing on the sizzling Saturday evening than those who weren’t even in attendance.
Rich Strike, the 80-1 long shot winner of the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago, was conspicuously absent after owner, Rick Dawson, and trainer, Eric Reed, decided to give the horse more time to rest and recover for next month’s Belmont Stakes.
Bob Baffert, one of horse racing’s most successful and controversial trainers, also did not make the trip to Baltimore. The 69-year-old is still serving his 90-day suspension from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission after Medina Spirit, who finished first at last year’s Kentucky Derby, was disqualified and stripped of the title following a positive test for betamethasone, an anti-inflammatory medication. Medina Spirit collapsed and died last December after a workout.
Without Rich Strike, Baffert, and the buzz of a horse potentially going for the Triple Crown, Derby runner-up Epicenter took center stage as the 6-5 pre-race favorite to win the 1 3/16-mile race. But it was Early Voting who jumped out near the front of the race behind Armagnac and held off Epicenter by 1¼ lengths in a winning time of 1:54.54 to claim the second jewel of the Triple Crown in hot and muggy conditions. Creative Minister finished third, and Secret Oath, the only filly in the field, was fourth.
“Honestly, I was never worried,” trainer Chad Brown said of the quick pace. “Once we had a good target, I actually preferred that. We were fine to go to the lead, but I thought down the backside it was going to take a good horse to beat us. And a good horse (Epicenter) did run up on us near the wire, and that was about the only one that could run with us.”
