Preakness: Smaller field and warmer conditions

Maybe Always Dreaming will race to glory and win horse racing’s Triple Crown at Belmont Park next month. But to get that chance he will first have to win the unpretentious middle jewel of the series, the Preakness Stakes, in Baltimore: Post time: Saturday, 6:45 p.m. Distance: 1 3/16 miles, a little less than the Kentucky Derby’s 11/4 miles.

Weather: Cloudy and 70 degrees. Purse: $1.5 million (U.S.) guaranteed, with $900,000 to the winner.

The Derby winner: Always Dreaming has won four races in a row including the Florida Derby and the Kentucky Derby. He has been winning impressively, but the field will be smaller in Baltimore, the weather warmer and the track drier.

Others from the Derby: Classic Empire was many people’s Derby favourite off his Arkansas Derby win. After struggling with the 20-horse Derby field, he ran a creditable fourth. Lookin at Lee, a 33-1 shot, charged up the track fast in the Derby to finish second. Seventh-place Gunnevera and 11th-place Hence will also be back.

New challengers: Conquest Mo Money, beaten by half a length by Classic Empire in the Arkansas Derby, tops the field of newcomers. Also taking a shot are Cloud Computing, third in the Wood; Multiplier, the Illinois Derby winner; and Senior Investment, who won the Lexington.

Missing: Bob Baffert, a six-time Preakness winner, has no entrant.