Preakness 2018 Lineup: Full Race Guide for All Horses and Jockeys

Two weeks after seizing the Triple Crown's opening leg at Churchill Downs, Justify gallops into Saturday's Preakness Stakes as a considerable favorite. 

As other trainers look ahead to the Belmont Stakes in New York, the Kentucky Derby winner will face seven other horses at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. Derby runner-up Good Magic once again looks poised to provide his fiercest competition.

Justify may have to remain undefeated on another muddy course. Weather.com forecasts rain throughout the day, but the conditions did not deter him at the Run for the Roses. Yet after breaking the Apollo Curse, pre-race injury concerns now threaten hopes of the Bob Baffert trainee becoming the third Triple Crown winner in the last 40 years.

Preakness Stakes Horses, Jockeys and Odds

1 — Quip (Florent Geroux):14-1

2 — Lone Sailor (Irad Ortiz): 20-1

3 — Sporting Chance (Luis Contreras) 40-1

4 — Diamond King (Javier Castellano): 20-1

5 — Good Magic (Jose Ortiz): 13-4

6 — Tenfold (Ricardo Santana Jr.): 33-1

7 — Justify (Mike Smith): 4-9

8 — Bravazo (Luis Saez): 18-1

Betting lines, updated as of Thursday evening, are courtesy of OddsShark.

Eclipse Sportswire/Getty Images

Justify no longer must prove he can succeed despite not racing as a two-year-old. He now, however, is simply tasked with winning his fifth race in three months.

Bettors have not flocked from the favorite despite a brief injury scare. CBS Sports' Hank Goldberg observed that the son of Scat Daddy's hind legs "were a little out of sync" after the Kentucky Derby. While he said Justify looked better during Thursday's workout, the anticipated wet conditions leave some cause for concern.

"If Justify goes into the race on a sloppy track and had the injury just two weeks ago, it would be something to worry about," Goldberg said.

Per David Ginsburg of the Associated Press, Baffert said he's "not really worried about" the post-Derby ailment. The Daily Racing Form's Jay Privman also reported an encouraging update on Thursday night:

Baffert's track record eases fears of Justify responding poorly to a two-week turnaround. As noted by OddsShark's Mike Dempsey, the trainer can tie R. Wyndham Walden's record by winning his seventh Preakness this Saturday. All four of his Kentucky Derby champions (Real Quiet, Silver Charm, War Emblem and American Pharoah) also triumphed at Pimlico.

He relishes the high expectations attached to representing a top contender, per the Associated Press' Stephen Whyno.

"I like being the favorite. I don't want to be 50-1. I like knowing that I have a chance to win. When you come in and you're like, ‘Well, I don't know, we're going to need the Stanford marching band to interfere a little bit,' then you don't feel that well. I just feel that when you know that there's a chance you can pull this off and when you can win on the big arena, that's what it's all about."

After finishing second at Churchill Downs, Good Magic has notched a top-three finish in all six races. Along with Justify, Lone Sailor and Bravazo, they have the disadvantage against the four other horses, who did not compete in the Derby.

According to ESPN's Chris Fallica, only three Derby runner-ups have won the Preakness. He also dampened the likelihood of the favorites replicating their one-two finish:

Among the field, Diamond King is the best choice to infiltrate the leaderboard. The Quality Road sire has won four of six starts, including two victories at Maryland's Laurel Park. Jockey Javier Castellano led Cloud Computing to a 2017 Preakness title and cemented a third-place Derby showing for Audible two weeks ago.

Recent Triple Crown events, however, have not proved kind to underdogs. Anyone besides Justify or Good Magic prevailing would constitute a significant upset, so none of the other six are gaining much traction in the betting lines.

A contrarian bettor might thus want to take the biggest longshot. Like Baffert, trainer D. Wayne Lukas is seeking his seventh Preakness victory. Sporting Chance is unlikely to lead Lukas to that milestone following a pair of fourth-place finishes, but the Hopeful Stakes winner has the pure speed necessary to stun everyone.