Exaggerator won the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, pulling ahead of favorite Nyquist and second-place finisher Cherry Wine to win the second leg of the series known as the Triple Crown of American Thoroughbred horse racing.
On a rain-soaked spring day in Baltimore, Maryland, Exaggerator — ridden by jockey Kent DesOrmeaux and trained by Kent's brother, Keith — took charge at the 3/16th pole and outlasted the tiring Nyquist down the stretch. He pulled 3½ lengths ahead of Cherry Wine to win the 1-3/16-mile race in a time of 1 minute, 58.31 seconds.
Exaggerator has performed well in wet conditions before, winning the Santa Anita Derby on a wet course in California in April. But he had lost to Nyquist in four previous races.
Nyquist, the third-place finisher, had been favored to win the race, after becoming the eighth unbeaten horse to win the Kentucky Derby on May 7. His supporters had hoped he could also win Preakness and the third Triple Crown race, the Belmont Stakes, which will be held June 11 in New York state.
A year ago, American Pharoah won the Triple Crown, the first horse to pull off the feat in 37 years.
In spite of the rain and temperatures that hovered in the mid-50s, track officials estimated the crowd to be 134,000 — a Preakness record.
Some information for this report came from AP.
