The second jewel of U.S. horse racing's Triple Crown - the Preakness Stakes - is Saturday in Baltimore, Maryland with Kentucky Derby winner "Street Sense" listed as the favorite.
"Street Sense", with jockey Calvin Borel aboard, broke through the pack at the last turn at Churchill Downs, Kentucky to beat "Hard Spun," by two and one-quarter lengths.
The two horses are poised for a rematch Saturday, with "Hard Spun" listed as the second favorite. No jockey has won more races at Baltimore's Pimlico raceway that "Hard Spun's" rider Mario Pino.
Both three year olds have to watch for "Curlin" and jockey Robbie Albarado. "Curlin" was third in the Kentucky Derby and will break from the fourth post Saturday.
It has been 29 years since a horse won all three Triple Crown races - the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont. The last horse to do it was "Affirmed" in 1978.
Other horses in the field Saturday are "Circular Quay," and "King of the Roxy" both trained by Todd Pletcher, and "Xchanger" who won the Federico Tesio takes at Pimlico last month.
Also entered are "C.P. West," trained by Hall of Famer Nick Zito, and "Flying First Class" trained by another Hall of Fame member, D-Wayne Lukas. "Mint Stewlep," whose trainer Robbie Bailes trained 2005 Preakness runner-up "Scrappy" rounds out the field.
The race measures 1.91 kilometers. The weather forecast calls for partly cloudy skies giving way to occasional rain in the afternoon with temperatures around 21 degrees Celsius.
Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.