Thank you so much for joining me here with VAVEL USA's coverage of the 2015 Preakness Stakes as American Pharoah has won again, which makes six straight wins for the young horse. This is Caleb Wahlgren, signing off.
It is a major victory for Bob Baffert and Victor Espinoza as they will continue over to Belmont Park in Belmont, New York in just 3 weeks.
Two down, one to go for American Pharoah.
In case you missed it, there is still going to be a shot at a Triple Crown winner this year.
The track was so nice before the rain, but this writer agrees that American Pharoah was definitely aided by that rain.
There is going to be a lot of difficulty for him to be the first Triple Crown winner since 1978 though, that's been 36 years of failure and 13 other horses have won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in that time.
American Pharoah with just flat out dominance today, winning easily by 5 lengths or more. It was impressive to see just what he could do on that sloppy track.
It's weird to think that no horse has won from the rail in the Preakness Stakes since 1994.
One horse that we didn't get to see today, but could have a chance to upset a Triple Crown bid for American Pharoah, would be Frosted. He finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby but is the son of Tapit, just like Tonalist was last year who won the Belmont Stakes.
Tale of Verve would be the only one that looked like he had any strength to even try and catch American Pharoah, but he was way too far behind to even try to catch American Pharoah.
Firing Line slipped out of the gate and was spread out wide, three to four wide around the first corner, which pretty much did him in.
American Pharoah almost with a wire to wire finish.
Race fans go to your calendar now, circle June 6, 2015, and make sure to clear anything on that day, because that will be a potential Triple Crown opportunity as they will go to the Belmont Stakes.
With some longshots in this one from Tale of Verve making the second place finish, this will make for some good payouts for the exacta, trifecta, and superfecta in the Preakness Stakes.
Bob Baffert has had his Kentucky Derby winner's win the Preakness Stakes several times now.
American Pharoah keeps the Triple Crown dreams alive as they have officially won the 2015 Preakness Stakes and the Black-Eyed Susans.
American Pharoah leading down the stretch. Wins by a long way with Tale of Verve in second and Divining Rod in third. Dortmund rounds off the Superfecta.
Firing Line is falling off.
Dortmund is sitting in third at this point as they go down the backstretch and Divining Rod is in fourth as they get to the back corner.
The gate is open, and Mr. Z and American Pharoah are the first two as they get to the first corner.
So, the race is going to start as there are now 6 horses into the gate.
As it is in a slight delay, Firing Line has seen it's odds increase to 3-1 odds now.
The horses are still being walked around and they haven't been sent to the gate and the last time the Preakness Stakes was run in a sloppy track was 1983.
Bodhisattva has fallen to 30-1 odds, which makes him the biggest longshot of the race.
The infield is being evacuated as I am typing this, which is quite odd for a horse track for a major race.
Mr. Z is at 16-1 odds and Danzig Moon has dropped slightly to 13-1 odds.
American Pharoah is now at 4-5 odds as they go to the gate.
The pagentry of the race is always thrilling as they are playing the trumpets and going to have some members of the Naval Academy Glee Club sing "Maryland, My Maryland." It is underway now.
The rain is coming down now at Pimlico which is going to have a major impact on the race, as they are giving the command for Rider's Up.
This writer may not be the most accurate, but has a feeling that Divining Rod will perform well as he is fresher than the horses that ran in the Derby, and he has a good track record. He's my pick for the win.
Expert picks are coming in: Jerry Bailey, Randy Moss, Donna Brothers, Laffit Pincay, and Kenny Rice all picked American Pharoah, but Carolyn Manno, Bob Neumeier, and Eddie Olczyk all picked Firing Line.
The jockey's have officially had their picture taken and are heading toward the horses that are getting saddled.
Trevor McCarthy is actually turning 21 today, which is rather special to spend it on the track, on the back of Bodhisattva.
The horses that are new to this race and did not participate in the Kentucky Derby are #5 Tale of Verve, #6 Bodhisattva, and #7 Divining Rod.
Dortmund's odds have settled back in their favor a little bit to 4-1.
Those horses include Spectacular Bid (1979), Pleasant Colony (1981), Alysheba (1987), Sunday Silence (1989), Silver Charm (1997), Real Quiet (1998), Charismatic (1999), War Emblem (2002), Funny Cide (2003), Smarty Jones (2004), Big Brown (2008), I'll Have Another (2012), and California Chrome (2014).
Since Affirmed won the Triple Crown back in 1978, there have been no other triple crown winners, but there have been a few horses that have won both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes since that time.
Javier Castellano was riding Ironicus to the victory and he will be riding Divining Rod in the Preakness Stakes.
Cage Fighter had taken the lead but Ironicus is the winner in the Longines Dixie Stakes with Cage Fighter in second, with Up With the Birds in third and Long On Value finished fourth.
48 second half mile for the race so far with Skyring still leading the way around the final corner.
Talk Show Man and Skyring are near the front as they round the first corner and head to the backstretch.
Grand Tito has officially been scratched and Victor Espinosa appears to be okay, which is huge as he is riding American Pharoah. Long on Value has gotten some more bets due to the scratch and is now at 5-2 odds with 13 horses in the race.
Grand Tito is in the first position for the race and sat down in the gate and they are double checking him before the race.
There are some clouds above the track right now and could have a significant impact if the track could from dry to muddy.
Odds for Long On Value have dropped some more as they are all the way down to 4-1. Both War Correspondent and Our Emerald Forest have been scratched from the Longines Dixie Stakes the 12th race on the program at Pimlico today.
Joel Rosario, who is riding longshot Tale of Verve, is riding the favorite Long On Value (8-1) in the race right before the Preakness Stakes, the Longines Dixie Stakes, which we are all waiting for right now.
Danzig Moon odds changed from 15-1 to 12-1 while they are going the other way for Bodhisattva falling from 20-1 and 25-1.
The odds for Mr. Z have changed from 20-1 to 15-1, while Tale of Verve has gone from 30-1 to 25-1.
The odds for Firing Line have improved so far already as well. They are now at 5-2. Dortmund has changed to 9-2 which means the bettors are putting their money elsewhere.
It is currently 83 degrees at the track and it is being listed as firm and fast.
This writer likes the odds of inserting Divining Rod instead of Firing Line and boxing the trifecta that way.
If you are looking for a best bet on a trifecta it would be boxing American Pharoah, Dortmund, and Firing Line. But then again that's the same trifecta from the Kentucky Derby.
There has been no scratches in today's race and that is absolutely something to be thankful for as we are anxiously awaiting the start of this race.
There has been an update in the odds as American Pharoah has now moved to even betting odds. Which is pretty crazy, but more reasonable considering it's a smaller field.
In case you are unaware of the participating horses and jockeys in today's Preakness Stakes, here is a quick recap (USA Today Sports).
Tale of Verve receiving a bath at Pimlico Race Course this morning. Verve is 25/1 at odds to win the Preakness Stakes (AP Photo).
The 2015 Preakness Stakes Purse Payouts ($1.5 million total) are as follows: First place wins $900,000 (60%), while second receives $300,000 (20%), third place earning $165,000 (11%), fourth getting $90,000 (6%) and fifth place taking home $45,000 (3%).
The latest odds, as of 1:15 p.m. EST, have American Pharoah coming in first, Dortmund finishing second, and Mr. Z rounding out the top three.
Gary Stevens will be looking for his fourth win in the Preakness Stakes. He won in 2013 on Oxbow, 2001 on Point Given and in 1997 on Silver Charm.
Firing Line's most recent win was in the Sunland Derby - G3, back on March 22, 2015. But he did finish second in the Kentucky Derby.
Live Marryland Pimlico Preakness Results 2015
The final horse in the eighth position of the gate is Firing Line. He is owned by Arnold Zetcher, trained by Simon Callaghan, and jockeyed by Gary Stevens. His odds coming into this race are 4-1.
Javier Castellano won the Preakness Stakes in 2006 on Bernardini. He is looking for his second win in this race today.
Divining Rod has a career record of 5-2-1-2 and won his last race of the Coolmore Lexington Stakes-G3 at Keeneland. His odds in this race are 12-1.
Divining Rod is in the seventh spot here in the gate. He is owned by Lael Stables, trained by Arnaud Delacour, and jockeyed by Javier Castellano in this race.
Bodhisattva is probably one of the biggest longshots in the race and his primary advantage is that he is racing at a track that he has already raced on before.
Bodhisattva is in the sixth spot in the gate as we continue to move further outside. Owned and trained by Jose Corrales, and jockeyed by Trevor McCarthy, and his odds in this race are 20-1. His record is 11-3-1-4 and he won his last race here at Pimlico in the Federico Tesio Stakes as he won at 1 1/16 miles.
Tale of Verve is listed at 30-1 odds and has a record of 6-1-1-2. His first win was at the same distance as here at the Preakness Stakes when he won at Keeneland on April 23.
Joel Rosario has two Triple Crown victories, winning the 2013 Kentucky Derby on Orb, and the 2014 Belmont Stakes on Tonalist. He is a major up and comer as a jockey as he is only 30 years of age and is already racing some of the best horses in the world and definitely has a bright future ahead of himself.
Dallas Stewart is an excellent trainer, he learned under D. Wayne Lukas. He has had back to back second place finishes in 2013 and 2014 in the Kentucky Derby with Golden Soul and Commanding Curve.
The next spot in the gate is going to Tale of Verve. The horse is owned by Charles Fipke, trained by Dallas Stewart, and will be jockeyed by Joel Rosario.
Mark Casse is a Canadian trainer. He has yet to win a triple crown race and will be doing his best with Danzig Moon to try and succeed in this small field.
Julien Leparoux is French and is most noted for winning three races at the 2009 Breeder's Cup. He has not ridden a triple crown winner yet in his career.
Danzig Moon was owned by John C. Oxley, trained by Mark Casse, and jockeyed by Julien Leparoux. His odds in the race are 15-1.
Danzig Moon is a horse that hasn't raced in a whole lot of games and has a career record of 6-1-2-0. The win came back at GulfPark on February 7, 2015.
Corey Nakatani had his best year in 2006 where he was the sixth ranked jockey. He won over $14 million and was able to win 145 races. He has not won a triple crown race, and is looking to take advantage with Mr. Z.
D. Wayne Lukas has trained Mr. Z and has had previous success in the Preakness Stakes, winning it back in 2013 with Oxbow, which ended a drought in this race for him because he hadn't won since back in 1999 with Charismatic.
Mr. Z has been in a lot of races which is a total of 13-1-4-4. He did race in the Kentucky Derby and finished a disappointing 13th. But he had just come off of a third place finish in the Arkansas Derby and he could still challenge as he is a strong horse.
The horse that drew the third position is Mr. Z. Mr. Z is owned by Calumet Farm and is trained by D. Wayne Lukas and will be ridden by Corey Nakatani. He is seen as a potential outsider and a longshot to win the race at 20-1.
Dortmund is seen as the biggest threat to upset American Pharoah's Triple Crown bid, and it's odds coming in are 7-2.
Martin Garcia will be riding Dortmund today and will be looking for a second Preakness Stakes win, as he won back in 2010 as he was riding Lookin At Lucky. Dortmund is owned by Kaleem Shah. Shah's most famous horse before Dortmund would be Bayern, who finished ninth in last year's Kentucky Derby.
Dortmund's career record is 7-6-0-1, winning every race it was in before the Kentucky Derby, including victories in the Santa Anita Derby and the San Felipe-G2 leading up to the derby.
Bob Baffert also trains the horse that is next to him Dortmund, who finished third in the Kentucky Derby. Dortmund's parent's are Big Brown, who won the 2008 Kentucky Derby and 2008 Preakness Stakes, and Our Josephina.
American Pharoah will be jockeyed by Victor Espinoza and is owned by Zayat Stables. Victor Espinoza was on the winning horse for the 2014 Preakness Stakes as he rode California Chrome to the victory. Odds for American Pharoah to win came in at 4-5.
American Pharoah might be trained by the most famous horse trainer in the United States, Bob Baffert. He hadn't won a Kentucky Derby before the most recent win since War Emblem had won it back in 2002. Finishing second with Pioneerof The Nile in 2009 and Bodemeister in 2012.
American Pharoah: The Kentucky Derby winner is by far the favorite for the race here at Pimlico. American Pharoah has won it's last 5 races after finishing fifth in it's first race back on August 9, 2014 in the MSW at Del Mar. American Pharoah is 6-5-0-0 in it's career and it's parent's are Pioneerof The Nile and Littleprincessemma.
There are currently eight horses that are scheduled to be in the race and let's start with the post position and work our way back outside.
Everyone is certainly getting excited to see the race as they are preparing for the second leg of the Triple Crown. The 9.5 furlong (1 3/16 mile) race is just a little bit shorter then the Kentucky Derby, but it is of huge importance as it has a very nice purse and will directly effect how much horse fans pay attention to the Belmont Stakes on June 6th.
Hello, and welcome to VAVEL USA’s Live Coverage of the live Preakness Stakes results at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. My name is Caleb Wahlgren and I will be bringing the live play by play during today’s race. Post for today's race is at 6:14 PM EST.