Preakness draw: Justify made 1-2 on morning line

BALTIMORE — Having the Preakness favorite has never bothered Bob Baffert before and it doesn’t bother him with Justify.

Coming off an impressive victory in the Kentucky Derby, Justify is the 1-2 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s race in a field of eight horses. Derby runner-up Good Magic is the second choice at 3-1, but Justify is clearly the horse to beat with the chance to give Baffert his seventh Preakness win and a shot at a second Triple Crown in four years after American Pharoah did it in 2015.

Baffert is 4-0 in the Preakness with the Derby winner and doesn’t see any reason Justify doesn’t have another big run in him.

“I like being the favorite,” Baffert said Wednesday. “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.”

Justify already won on horse racing’s biggest stage over a muddy track at Churchill Downs. Rain is expected at Pimlico Race Course this week and on Preakness day, which could set up a similar scenario to how jockey Mike Smith took Justify out to the lead before the final turn and pulled away.

Justify will face three challengers he beat two weeks ago at Churchill — Good Magic, Lone Sailor and Bravazo — and four who didn’t qualify for the Derby — Quip, Tenfold, Sporting Chance and Diamond King.

Justify arrived at Pimlico on Wednesday and Baffert expects to take him on the track for the first time this morning.

“He shipped really well,” Baffert said. “We just walked the shed row this morning because I didn’t want to do too much with him. It looks like he came off the van in great shape and he’s really full of himself. So I could tell, by the way he was dragging me around there, he’s on his game. That’s what you want to see a few days out.”

Veteran trainer D. Wayne Lukas has two entrants, Sporting Chance and Bravazo. He knows Baffert has the horse to beat.

“Bob Baffert and I are very close friends, but I’m going to try every way I can to beat him,” Lukas said. “The only thing that worries me is he’s got the best horse.”