Preakness 2016 Video Replay, Highlights and Recap

Exaggerator plays second fiddle to Nyquist no more. 

Having finished behind the Kentucky Derby winner in their previous four meetings, Exaggerator ended Nyquist's Triple Crown hopes Saturday with a win in the 2016 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore:

Finish	Horse	Post	Trainer	Jockey	Owner(s)	Odds
1	Exaggerator	5	Keith Desormeaux	Kent Desormeaux	Big Chief Racing	5-2
2	Cherry Wine	1	Dale Romans	Corey Lanerie	William Pacella, Frank L. Jones Jr., Frank Shoop	17-1
3	Nyquist	3	Doug O'Neill	Mario Gutierrez	J. Paul Reddam	3-5
4	Stradivari	11	Todd Pletcher	John Velazquez	John Gunther, Michael Tabor, Derek Smith, Susan Magnier	8-1
5	Lani	6	Mikio Matsunaga	Yutaka Take	Koji Maeda	30-1
6	Laoban	8	Eric Guillot	Florent Geroux	McCormick Racing, Southern Equine Stable	60-1
7	Uncle Lino	2	Gary Sherlock	Fernando Perez	Tom Mansor, Purple Shamrock Racing, Gary Sherlock	35-1
8	Fellowship	10	Mark Casse	Jose Lezcano	Jacks or Better Farm	50-1
9	Awesome Speed	4	Alan Goldberg	Jevian Toledo	Colts Neck Stables	50-1
10	Collected	7	Bob Baffert	Javier Castellano	Speedway Stable	16-1
11	Abiding Star	9	Ned Allar	J.D. Acosta	Stonehedge LLC	35-1

Nyquist helped set a blistering pace early in the race, but that ended up being his undoing, as he was unable to answer Exaggerator's charge down the final stretch. NBC Sports shared a replay of the race:

USA Today's Dan Wolken placed the blame on jockey Mario Gutierrez:

Trainer Doug O'Neill revealed he devised Nyquist's race strategy, per the Courier-Journal's Tim Sullivan:

"

Exaggerator had that momentum, and Nyquist had done so much early in the race and just couldn’t keep pace. ... We thought we had the best horse and wanted to ride him like the best horse and not try to get too cute and get perfect positioning. Him going fast early was really my idea, thinking, ‘He’s the best horse, take it to them.' If we were going to get beat, let’s get beat being aggressive and not trying to get cute and get in trouble.

"

Theoretically, the plan wasn't all that bad. The Preakness is the shortest of the three Triple Crown races, and Nyquist was the strongest horse in the field.

O'Neill should've considered, however, how strong a closer Exaggerator is. His final surge was far from a surprising development given his previous performances. Kent Desormeaux's tactics with Exaggerator were similar to how the colt ran the Kentucky Derby and Santa Anita Derby.

Desormeaux was content to remain in the middle of the pack for most of the race. Then, he made his move coming around the final turn, and unlike at Churchill Downs, the distance between Exaggerator and Nyquist was much more manageable.

It's a testament to Exaggerator's speed that even in the slop at Pimlico he finished comfortably ahead of the rest of the field.

"For the abbreviations I've had in previous starts, I had a dream trip today," Desormeaux said, per Childs Walker of the Baltimore Sun. "I was on the fence and they all stayed wide. These turns, you want to paint the fence. We did, they didn't and, not for nothing, but knowledge is power."

Denying Nyquist the Triple Crown will be a sweet feeling for Desormeaux and his brother, Keith, who trained Exaggerator. One of the biggest questions heading into the Preakness was whether Exaggerator could finally get the better of his rival, and he did just that Saturday.

Since American Pharoah's triumph isn't even one year old, it's somewhat easy to forget just how difficult winning the Triple Crown is. Only once before (Seattle Slew and Affirmed in 1977 and '78) had horses won the Crown in back-to-back years, and now, that streak will continue.

At least the dramatic finish to the Preakness sets up a potentially mouth-watering Belmont Stakes on June 11, depending on whether Nyquist and Exaggerator make the trip to Elmont, New York.

Keith Desormeaux confirmed Exaggerator will run at Belmont, per ESPN.com's Arash Markazi, while O'Neill declined to confirm one way or the other, only saying there's a "strong possibility" Nyquist will take part, per Blood-Horse's Claire Novak.