BALTIMORE—A half-mile into the Preakness, Mage’s Triple Crown chances were already in serious jeopardy.
The Kentucky Derby-winning colt was racing comfortably—and wasn’t that far behind—but the pace was a fairly easy one, and that made the leaders tough to catch.
“Not much speed in the race,” said Javier Castellano, Mage’s jockey. “The way it unfolded, the race, it disadvantaged the horses coming from behind.”
That scenario wasn’t hard to see coming. After First Mission was scratched, there were only seven horses remaining, and there wasn’t much early speed in this middle jewel of the Triple Crown. So front-runner National Treasure had plenty left for the stretch as Mage tried in vain to make up ground. National Treasure edged Blazing Sevens by a head, with Mage another 2 1/4 lengths back in third….