Preakness 2016 Lineup: Full Race Guide for All Horses and Jockeys

Nyquist is a little over 2 ½ miles from entering rarefied air as he heads to Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on Saturday for the 2016 Preakness Stakes.

The three-year-old lived up to the hype at the Kentucky Derby, holding off Exaggerator for the victory. Granted, he remains a long way from becoming the 13th horse to capture the Triple Crown. Many pitfalls remain for Nyquist as he looks to win three major races in a little over a month.

When it comes to Saturday's Preakness Stakes, though, anything less than another Nyquist win will be a major surprise:

Post	Horse	Jockey	Trainer	Morning Line	Odds Shark
1	Cherry Wine	Corey Lanerie	Dale Romans	20/1	25/1
2	Uncle Lino	Fernando Perez	Gary Sherlock	20/1	33/1
3	Nyquist	Mario Gutierrez	Doug O'Neill	3/5	4/7
4	Awesome Speed	Jevian Toledo	Alan Goldberg	30/1	33/1
5	Exaggerator	Kent Desormeaux	Keith Desormeaux	3/1	15/4
6	Lani	Yutaka Take	Mikio Matsunaga	30/1	40/1
7	Collected	Javier Castellano	Bob Baffert	10/1	16/1
8	Laoban	Florent Geroux	Eric Guillot	30/1	40/1
9	Abiding Star	J.D. Acosta	Ned Allar	30/1	40/1
10	Fellowship	Jose Lezcano	Mark Casse	30/1	33/1
11	Stradivari	John Velazquez	Todd Pletcher	8/1	8/1

Former jockey and NBC Sports analyst Jerry Bailey doesn't see any of this year's field challenging Nyquist, per the Breeders' Cup Twitter account:

Track conditions, however, could be the great equalizer. According to AccuWeather meteorologist Carl Erickson (via Kevin Byrne of AccuWeather.com), the weather forecast calls for rain throughout Saturday at Pimlico. Should the rain end before the 6:45 p.m. ET post time, the track will still likely be muddy enough to effect the race.

Nyquist has some experience in wetter conditions. He beat Majesto on a muddier track at the Florida Derby in April:

"I don't think it'll affect him in a negative way," said Nyquist's trainer, Doug O'Neill, per Daily Racing Form's David Grening (via ESPN.com). "You got to be sure-footed to do what he's done at all the different tracks. We got a wet track there at Gulfstream. That didn't seem to affect him in a negative way, so I don't see it as a negative."

Exaggerator has a similar result under his belt. He didn't look to be too affected by the mud in the Santa Anita Derby as he blew away Mor Spirit and Uncle Lino:

The biggest question mark with Exaggerator is whether he can ever overcome Nyquist on the track. The two have previously raced against one another three times (San Vicente Stakes, Breeders' Cup Juvenile and Kentucky Derby) in graded stakes races.

It's not a stretch to say Nyquist is objectively the stronger horse based on the balance of those results. But a lot of crazy things can happen during the course of a race, especially when track conditions aren't optimal.

Should Nyquist and Exaggerator falter, Collected could be in position to capitalize. He'll be fresher than the two, with his last race coming back on April 16 in the Lexington Stakes. Collected also has a legendary trainer (Bob Baffert) and proven jockey (Javier Castellano) who both know what it takes to win at Pimlico.

Stradivari is also a major wild card. He has never run a graded stakes race, but TVG's Mike Joyce has seen enough to fall in love with the colt's ability:

To a certain extent, the Preakness Stakes is the least climactic of the three Triple Crown races. The Kentucky Derby has the allure of seeing which horse is going to make a run at history, and the Belmont Stakes is the final proving ground. The Preakness is the necessary bridge between the two.

Of course, much of the built-in drama for the Belmont would evaporate the moment Nyquist fails to come in first place at Pimlico, so with any luck, Nyquist will continue his quest for the Crown on Saturday.

Note: Post positions are courtesy of Preakness.com and odds are courtesy of Odds Shark.