Preakness 2012: Favorites That Will Fade Away

The second leg of the Triple Crown takes place on Saturday at the Preakness Stakes, and, like the Kentucky Derby, it will be exciting from start to finish.  

I'll Have Another won the Kentucky Derby when he overtook Bodemeister in the final 100 yards. 

Expect Bodemeister, who is also the favorite of the Preakness, to fail to win the race as well. The inability of Bodemeister and his jockey Mike Smith to close out the Kentucky Derby shows that the duo may not have the ability to close races down the home stretch.  

Bodemeister drew the No. 7 post for the Preakness, and his trainer Bob Baffert told Sportingnews.com the following:

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“I think it’s a good post. With him, anything in the middle would have been fine. In the Preakness you just don’t want to be stuck down on the inside, where you have to use your horse a little bit,"

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Smith will try to keep Bodemeister on the outside, in hopes that they will simply be able to outclass the rest of the field. They might be the favorite, but they will still have to run a good race to win. 

Creative Cause finished fifth at the Kentucky Derby, but fell from third to fifth in the final eighth of the race. 

The horse lost its last two races to I'll Have Another, and, coming off a Kentucky Derby win, why would I'll Have Another lose to Creative Cause now?

Creative Cause opened at 6-1, and has beaten both Bodemeister and I'll Have Another in the past. The odds-makers clearly feel that Creative Cause has a legitimate chance to win—and he very well might.

I certainly don't expect Creative Cause to win this race, but no one knows what's going to happen in horse racing. 

As soon as the race begins, the pre-race odds are thrown away, and the sports world becomes mesmerized by the long strides of the horses. 

My pick is I'll Take Another, because it would be great to see him head into Belmont with a chance at winning the Triple Crown.