Early Voting holds off Epicenter in Preakness

Early Voting held off hard-charging favorite Epicenter to win the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, validating the decision to skip the Kentucky Derby and aim for the second leg of the Triple Crown.

Early Voting stalked behind the leaders for much of the race before moving into the lead around the final turn. He finished 1 1/4 lengths ahead of Epicenter, who was second just like in the Derby.

“I was never worried,” Early Voting trainer Chad Brown said. “Once we had a good target, I actually preferred that. We were fine to go to the lead, but I thought down the back side it was going to take a good horse to beat us. And a good horse did run up on us near the wire and it was about the only one that could run with us.”

The Preakness was run without Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike after his owner prioritized extra rest over the chance at winning the Triple Crown. Early Voting could have run in the Derby, but Brown, and owner Seth Klarman of Klaravich Stables, opted for some extra rest, too.

Early Voting, who went off at 5-1, gave Brown his second Preakness victory. Cloud Computing, the champion in 2017, is also owned by Klaravich Stables. inimaximus.

Lehkonen scores twice as Avs take Game 3

Artturi Lehkonen scored twice, Darcy Kuemper stopped 29 shots and the Colorado Avalanche beat the St. Louis Blues 5-2 in Game 3 of their second-round series Saturday night.

Logan O’Connor, Nazem Kadri and Gabriel Landeskog also scored as the Avalanche to a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Colorado improved to 3-0 on the road in the postseason.

Ryan O’Reilly had a goal and an assist, and Colton Parayko also scored for the Blues. Jordan Binnington started in goal for St. Louis and made three saves before leaving the game 6:45 into the first period after Kadri and Blues defenseman Calle Rosen collided into him after getting their skates tangled up in the crease. No penalty was called on the play.

Ville Husso stopped 19 of 23 shots in relief of Binnington to fall to 1-3 in the playoffs.

Game 4 is Monday night in St. Louis.

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