DETROIT – The 142nd Preakness Stakes takes place Saturday in Baltimore, Maryland.
Here's what you need to know about the race:
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Purse: $1.5 million guaranteed Distance: 1 3/16 miles
Track record: 1:52.2 (Farma Way, 1991) Weight: 126 pounds
Post time: 6:48 p.m. Eastern
How to watch: NBC has the broadcast, beginning at 2:30.
STREAM: Watch an online stream of the race here (click here).
Post Position, Horse, Odds
1, Multiplier, 40-1
2, Cloud Computing, 14-1
3, Hence, 20-1
4, Always Dreaming, 4-5
5, Classic Empire, 3-1
6, Gunnevera, 16-1
7, Term of Art, 33-1
8, Senior Investment, 33-1
9, Lookin At Lee, 10-1
10, Conquest Mo Money, 18-1
Here's more background on the Preakness Stakes 2017:
It's one of American sport's most fabled feats.
Winning the three most prestigious events on the U.S. horse racing calendar, an achievement dubbed the Triple Crown and something only 12 horses have done since 1919.
Always Dreaming, the colt owned by a Brooklyn lawyer that galloped to Kentucky Derby glory earlier this month, will bid to take another step towards greatness at the 142nd Preakness Stakes in Baltimore, Saturday.
The showpiece at Pimlico race course in Baltimore follows the Derby as the second of U.S. flat-racing's celebrated trio of early summer classics. The Belmont Stakes, three weeks later in New York, completes the crown jewels.
The most recent horse to triumph in all three -- after a 37-year drought -- was American Pharaoh in 2015.
Always Dreaming, ridden by Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, won the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs two weeks ago and is the favorite for the Preakness Stakes, which was first run in 1873.
The race for three-year-old thoroughbreds, also held over dirt, is shorter than the Derby, at nine-and-a-half furlongs or 1 3/16 miles.
'Little fright'
Always Dreaming gave trainer Todd Pletcher a "little bit of a fright" after getting "fired-up" and producing a series of bucks which led to a stumble during a gallop at Pimlico Monday, but the handler told reporters he was "really, really happy" with his work Tuesday.
"It couldn't have gone any smoother," Pletcher said.
The colt, owned by Brooklyn lawyer Anthony Bonomo, his wife Mary Ellen and Vinnie Viola, finished 2 3/4 lengths ahead of Lookin At Lee with Battle of Midway rounding out the top three in Kentucky.
"There's more anxiety when you have the Derby winner and you're going for the Preakness and he's favorite, so that part is different but preparation-wise you're trying to do everything you can to have him the best you can on the day," added Pletcher.
Early Kentucky Derby favorite Classic Empire is second in the betting at Pimlico after a fourth-place finish at Churchill Downs.
Lookin at Lee, trained by Steve Asmussen, and Gunnevera and Hence, Derby seventh and 11th respectively, follow in the odds for the 10-horse field.
Most valuable trophy
The winner of the Preakness Stakes gets 60 percent of the $1.5 million purse, -- $900,000 -- down to 3 percent for fifth. The rest don't earn a dollar.
The victorious owner receives a $30,000 replica of the solid silver Woodlawn Vase, created by Tiffany and Co. in 1860.
The original, said to be worth $1 million and reputedly the most valuable trophy in American sports, is brought to the course for one day only and is kept in the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Five fillies have won the Preakness in its illustrious history. The last was Rachel Alexandra in 2009, the first filly to win in 85 years.
The course record of 1:53 minutes was set by legendary Triple Crown winner Secretariat in 1973.
The Run for the Black-Eyed Susans
The storied race has plenty of traditions in keeping with its status as U.S. racing's second biggest event after the Kentucky Derby.
Last year a record 135,256 spectators went to the Pimlico feature, while 158,070 people attended this year's Derby, according to NBC.
One such lore is the painting of the weather vane -- a miniature horse and rider -- on the Old Clubhouse cupola with the colors of the winning team for a year.
The winning horse is also draped in a blanket resembling a carpet of yellow black-eyed Susan flowers, representing the state flower of Maryland.
The race was named after a horse -- Preakness -- which won an event held over the new Pimlico course in 1870.
The Bonomo team, including son Anthony Jr., operate Brooklyn Boyz stable after getting into racing in 2005. Bonomo Sr. insists he never thought he would have a horse of such stature and says the name, thought up by his wife, is fitting.
"It was always our dream to get a horse in a big race, and we're always dreaming in life, not just in horse racing," he said. "Every day, aren't you dreaming about something?"
If Saturday goes to plan, he can keep dreaming for a little longer yet.
Todd Pletcher takes sure and steady approach to Preakness
The Preakness has never been Todd Pletcher's race.
Sure, it's the middle jewel of the Triple Crown. But Pletcher has made a habit of skipping Baltimore in order to beat the pack to his home base of New York after the Kentucky Derby and await the Belmont.
The Preakness' position two weeks after the Derby is too soon for Pletcher. He prefers giving his horses more rest between starts. He's 0 for 8 in the race, with his best finish being third with Impeachment in 2000.
Of course, it's become incumbent for the trainer of the Derby winner to bring the champ to Pimlico for a shot at making a Triple Crown bid. So Pletcher is here with Always Dreaming and he's enjoying himself in his customarily restrained way.
He's wolfing down crab cakes at every opportunity and offering up local restaurant tips to anyone who asks.
"He never was a real charismatic, funny person," mentor and Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said, "but he always handled himself well."
And his horses even better.
Pletcher has won Eclipse Awards seven times as the nation's leading trainer, including four in a row. He has won nine Breeders' Cup races and four Triple Crown races, while finishing second or third 13 other times.
"He was going to be good if he never met me," said Lukas, the career leader with 14 Triple Crown victories, who employed Pletcher as assistant for seven years until he went out on his own in 1995.
Always Dreaming has surprised Pletcher in how quickly the dark bay colt bounced back from his 2¾-length victory in the Derby on May 6. He galloped 1½ miles on a warm, muggy Thursday and will jog on Friday because "that's what we did the day before the Derby," Pletcher said.
"The tank seems full and he seems eager to go," he said.
Always Dreaming is the first Derby horse Pletcher has run in the Preakness since Super Saver in 2010. That colt earned Pletcher his first Derby victory before finishing eighth in the Preakness.
Never one to ignore lessons learned, Pletcher is using his experience with Super Saver to guide Always Dreaming's preparation. He gave Super Saver a breeze — or timed workout — between the first two Triple Crown races. He didn't with Always Dreaming.
"The two weeks is a quick turnaround, and sometimes you don't know until they get in the stretch and you see what you have in reserve," he said. "We're just trying to keep it as simple as possible. We're not overthinking it. We're just letting the horse gallop and be happy."
Pletcher sent Always Dreaming to Pimlico three days after the Derby, wanting to give the colt known for some aggressive behavior in the mornings a chance to get used to his new surroundings well before race day. It was quiet around Pimlico last week, when Always Dreaming practiced standing in the starting gate and visiting the paddock area where he will be saddled indoors on Saturday.
"I like the way he's behaving around the barn," Pletcher said. "He's quiet in the stall. When he gets on the track, he's strong but in a good way. We don't want to see him get too excited and step on himself."
Always Dreaming will have nine rivals in the race, including four that ran in the Derby.
If the colt is showing an eagerness to compete again, so is Pletcher.
"I just want the race to get here," he said. "He's doing so good."
Despite overseeing a stable that runs in races nationwide, Pletcher is single-minded in his approach with each horse in his barn. So don't even get him started on talk of winning the Triple Crown.
"Let's hope that Sunday morning we wake up and have to think about that," he said.