Preakness Stakes (Grade 1) 1m 1f 110yds

IT’S a huge weekend of top-quality racing stateside this week headed by the rescheduled Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, moved from mid-May and now the final leg in the Triple Crown.

The race is missing the Belmont Stakes winner but the Kentucky Derby and Haskell winner Authentic lines up along with his Baffert-trained stable companion Thousand Words.

Is Authentic the real deal? He was only third favourite for the Derby after lasting home by a nose from NY Traffic in the Haskell but won many fans with the way he battled on through the stretch to hold off Tiz The Law. That was a step-up on his previous form. He drops back half a furlong and Bob Baffert appears confident the colt is progressing.

His main rivals are two newcomers to the Triple Crown races, the Blue Grass one-two Art Collector and the filly Swiss Skydiver.

The Thomas Jury-trained Art Collector was a late Derby absentee with a minor foot injury, and is unbeaten in his four runs this season. He was impressive when whizzing past Swiss Skydiver in Keeneland in July. He has since made all in the Listed Ellis Park Derby and looks to provide Authentic with a stern challenge.

The bargain-buy filly Swiss Skydiver got the better of Gamine in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks but still had to give way to Shedaresthedevil, beaten a length and a half. She sat off the pace set by Gamine but had made the running on a fast pace in the Blue Grass.

In between she had been impressive in winning the Grade 1 Alabama in Saratoga. Five fillies have won the race, though only Rachel Alexandra in the last 90 years.

NY Traffic has had a busy season – this is his seventh outing and ran his only bad race in the Derby when eighth. He could well bounce back and make the placings at bigger odds.

SELECTION: ART COLLECTOR

Next best: Authentic

Also on the card, the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes features four graded stakes winners with Juddmonte’s Alabama Stakes second Bonny South heading the market in a field of 11 fillies.

Keeneland Saturday

There are three Grade 1s on the card headed by the Shadwell Turf Mile where Bowies Hero will attempt to become the third horse to win the race in consecutive years when he faces 10 rivals.

Chad Brown runs four headed by Peter Brant’s dual Grade 1 winner Raging Bull.The entire returns to Keeneland where he was third, beaten a neck, in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile in July.

Brown’s other runners are Analyze It, fourth in the Shadwell last year; Juddmonte’s Flavius, winner of the Tourist Mile at Kentucky Downs; and former Royal Ascot winner Without Parole who was fourth in the Maker’s Mark Mile.

Halladay’s win in the Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap at Saratoga is the best piece of recent form and the Todd Pletcher runner looks likely to dictate the pace.

Chad Brown also is well represented in the First Lady with Grade 1 winners Newspaperofrecord and Uni.

Uni, the champion grass mare of 2019, won this last year and went on to victory over the boys in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita. She finished seventh as the favourite in the Fourstardave against males at Saratoga last time.

Brad Cox’s Beau Recall turned the tables on Newspaperofrecord in the Distaff Turf Mile in Churchill Downs where Uni was third.

Godolphin’s homebred Essential Quality, an easy winner on Kentucky Derby Day, headlines a field of nine two-year-olds for the Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity won by Maxfield was in 2019.

Belmont Saturday

The Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic has the usual line up of US turf horses, none of whom excite. Chad Brown runs two and Rockemperor may be best over Bill Mott’s Channel Maker. Last year’s Deutsches Derby winner Laccario is interesting on first-time Lasix though he was last of seven in the Group 1 Preis Von Europa last time.

Code Of Honor is the standout in the mile Grade 2 Kelso Handicap but his four-year-old season has been a bit of a disappointment so far and Chad Brown’s Forego Stakes second Complexity may be more suited to this mile.

The Grade 1 Belmont Derby has a field of nine and the Chad Brown-trained son of Kingman, Domestic Spending, heads the market to confirm his Saratoga Derby win over Gufo.

Belmont Sunday

The nine-furlong Grade 2 Beldame for turf fillies is the highlight on the card with Chad Brown again responsible for the market leader Dunbar Road.

She has won her two outings this year, more recently the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap by three lengths in July.

Keeneland Sunday

The Grade 1 Spinster Stales sees the reappearance of the Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil as she takes on the five-year-old Ollie’s Candy.

The latter has been placed in her four races this season, all Grade 1s, and will prove a tough opponent for Brad Cox’s Oaks winner.