WASHINGTON – The absence of longshot Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike takes a Triple Crown tilt off the table and sets up Derby runner-up Epicenter as the favorite in the $1.65 million Preakness Stakes on Saturday.
Rich Strike’s unlikely victory in the 148th Kentucky Derby still cast a long shadow at Pimlico in Baltimore, Maryland, even after the colt’s connections opted not to run him in the second jewel in US flat racing’s Triple Crown.
It’s the first time since 2019 that the Derby winner has skipped the Preakness. That year Country House was sick, and in fact never raced again.
This time Rich Strike’s owner decided the…