The Preakness got much more interesting on Saturday when Mystik Dan trainer Kenny McPeek confirmed the Kentucky Derby winner will race at the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown.

Mr. McPeek announced that Mystik Dan is“doing fantastic” after the 18-1 long shot win in a thrilling photo finish with Sierra Leone and Forever Young during the 150^th Run for the Roses a week ago at Churchill Downs. Mr. McPeek, who won the 2020 Preakness with filly Swiss Skydiver, said Mystik Dan will ship to Baltimore on Sunday and await Monday’s post-position draw for the May 18 race at Pimlico.

“All systems are go,” Mr. McPeek said.

Mystik Dan is trying to win the second leg of the Triple Crown after a rail-hugging ride by jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. over the 1 ¼ mile track at Churchill Downs. But he isn’t the early favorite for the Preakness. Bob Baffert trained Muth is the early choice for two reasons. One, he’s rested. Two, he whipped Mystik Dan in the Arkansas Derby (G1).

With Juan Hernandez aboard, Muth won at Oaklawn, out-running second-place finisher and Kentucky Derby entry Just Steel and crossing several lengths ahead of Mystik Dan, who faded to third in the March 30 race. Mystik Dan’s disappointing performance at Oaklawn is why he was 18-1 going into the Kentucky Derby.

“We hadn’t run in seven weeks,” Mr. McPeek said of the race at Oaklawn. “It’s no excuse. He was ready for the Arkansas Derby. But he got turned sideways in that turn and Brian said that cost him three or four lengths.”

The victory gave Muth enough points to qualify for the Kentucky Derby, but the horse was ineligible because Mr. Baffert is serving a suspension imposed by Churchill Downs stemming from Medina Spirit’s failed drug test in 2021. Muth owners Zedan Racing Stables went to court to get the suspension overturned to enter Muth in the Derby but were denied by the Kentucky Court of Appeals.

Will Mystik Dan get revenge and continue his quest for the Triple Crown at Pimlico? Or will Muth prove his dominance and earn Mr. Baffert a record-extending ninth victory at the Preakness?  That includes a win by National Treasure last year, which led the 2023 Preakness from start to finish after sitting out the Derby due to Mr. Baffert’s suspension. National Treasure outdueled Blazing Sevens down the stretch, while 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage faded two lengths behind. 

The short time between races initially caused Mr. McPeek to doubt whether Mystik Dan would enter the Preakness. After his maiden win on November 12 at Churchill Downs, he finished fifth two weeks later in an allowance race at Churchill. “The last time I ran him back in two weeks it just didn’t go well,” Mr. McPeek told reporters Saturday at Churchill Downs.

Sierra Leone, the Derby’s second-place finisher, and Japanese-bred Forever Young, which finished third, won’t run in the Preakness. Sierra Leone will run in the Belmont at Saratoga, trainer Chad Brown said, while Forever Young had to return to Japan before May 15 or be quarantined for three months.

Mr. McPeek is among those who believe the Triple Crown schedule might need altering. “Maybe it should be the first Saturday in May, first Saturday in June, first Saturday in July,” he said during a conference call earlier in the week. “I think that’d be great. I would think you would have more of the horses coming back if it were spaced like that, and it would make it harder to win because you’d have more competition.”

Mr. Baffert, who also enters Imagination — second by a neck to Stronghold in the Santa Anita Derby — said he would hate to break with tradition, but admitted, “Maybe we have to look at it in a different way because you want to see the best horses competing

in all three races,” he said during the conference call. “So if it takes that, then I’m open for it. I will be there. If I have the horse I will be there.”

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who will have Just Steel and Seize the Grey in the Preakness, said the short turnaround makes the Triple Crown special. “This is what makes the Triple Crown difficult, and the Preakness, it’s timing and everything,” he said. “Obviously, it’s getting a lot of scrutiny. But it takes an unbelievable horse to do it, and like I said, maybe that’s why it should stay the same.”

The early odds by Horse Racing Nation to win the 1 3/16 mile race has Muth at 9-5, Mystik Dan at 5-2, Catching Freedom and Tuscan Gold at 6-1, and Imagination at 8-1. Copper Tax is 12-1, Just Steel is 15-1. The long shots are Seize the Grey (20-1), Mugatu (30-1) and Uncle Heavy (30-1).