Horse Racing

Can Medina Spirit and Concert Tour light up the Preakness Stakes?

Planet Sport writerStaff Writer15 May 2021
Medina Spirit winning Kentucky Derby

Medina Spirit winning Kentucky Derby

Wagering for the 146th Preakness Stakes opened Friday morning, and the odds for the race now reflect the current betting patterns.

Morning line favorite and Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit, now at 3/1 after opening at 9/5, has been replaced at the top of the odds list by Midnight Bourbon, who has moved from 5/1 to 5/2.

The odds will continue to fluctuate until post time, but it's highly unlikely for them to change enough for any other horse to break into the top trio of Midnight Bourbon, Medina Spirit, and Concert Tour.

With the second race in the Triple Crown Series upon us, we complete our look at the field that will run in the 13th race at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday.

Concert Tour (Post position 10, current odds of 4/1)

Concert Tour, the winner of the 50-20-10-5 Rebel Stakes and third-place finisher in the 100-40-20-10 Arkansas Derby, easily qualified for the Kentucky Derby. His connections however, held him out of the first jewel of the Triple Crown to concentrate instead on the Preakness Stakes. 

He also won the Grade II San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita in his first race after breaking his maiden in his racing debut as a three-year-old.

The Arkansas Derby on April 10th ended an unbeaten beginning to his racing career, and he'll come into the Preakness well-rested, as opposed to Medina Spirit and Midnight Bourbon, both of whom were in the field at Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby.

As Concert Tour showed in the Rebel, he's fully capable of dominating a race, but his limited body of work and disappointing finish as the overwhelming odds on favorite in the Arkansas Derby leave room for doubt.

With all of the turmoil in the Baffert camp due to the Medina Spirit controversy, it's possible that Concert Tour could be adversely affected in his preparation for the Preakness.

That's certainly contributing to Midnight Bourbon's rise to betting favorite, but Concert Tour is still a very dangerous horse who would have been among the favorites in the Kentucky Derby had he been entered.

Medina Spirit (Post position 3, current odds of 3/1)

The Kentucky Derby winner's positive test for illegal levels of the anti-inflammatory betamethasone has been well documented, as has the decision by the Maryland Racing Commission to allow the Bob Baffert trained colt to run in the Preakness.

What is less publicized is that he won the Derby as a 12/1 underdog, and one impressive run in a crowded 19 horse field doesn't change who the horse is.

Medina Spirit edges Mandaloun in the Kentucky Derby

Medina Spirit has not finished worse than second in six races and has only been passed once in his career, and that was briefly down the stretch of the Kentucky Derby by eventual runner-up Mandaloun.

He was impressive at Churchill Downs, winning virtually wire to wire and leading at every timing split after a clean start enabled him to set the early pace, but several of the favorites got caught in traffic that won't exist in a field about half the size.

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