Justify takes aim at Preakness crown next

WASHINGTON: Undefeated Kentucky Derby winner Justify will race in the second leg of US flat racing’s Triple Crown at the Preakness in two weeks, trainer Bob Baffert said Sunday. Baffert said the three-year-old colt had abundant energy the morning after defeating Good Magic by 2 1/2 lengths to conquer a 20-horse field over 1 1/4 miles on a muddy Churchill Downs track.

“He looks phenomenal,” Baffert said. “He’s full of himself. He knows he’s a stud. He came back and he really wasn’t that tired. “He ate up last night and today he has been a handful. When I got him out of the stall he was pulling me around. Usually they are a little bit tired.”

Justify, who has won all four of his starts, is expected to arrive three or four days before the second leg of the Triple Crown is contested over 1 3/16 miles on May 19 at Pimlico in Baltimore, Maryland. The third race of the treble is June 9 at the Belmont Stakes in New York. Only 12 horses have won all three races in the same year, the most recent being Baffert-trained American Pharoah in 2015.