BALTIMORE (Mary­land): Unbeaten Justify charged clear through the fog, battling to a gritty victory in the 143rd Preakness Stakes on Saturday as the Kentucky Derby winner set the stage for a Triple Crown bid next month.

The heavily favoured three-year-old chestnut colt, ridden by Mike Smith, overcame a lengthy initial challenge from Derby runner-up Good Magic on a sloppy track at Pimlico Race Course to add to his Churchill Downs triumph with a fifth victory in as many races.

A hard-charging Bravazo finished second and Tenfold was third as Good Magic faded to fourth towards the end of the 1 3/16 mile (9.5 furlongs) dirt track race.

A victory in the Belmont Stakes in New York on June 9 would earn trainer Bob Baffert his second US thoroughbred racing Triple Crown in four years after American Pharoah achieved the feat in 2015.

“We’ll see how he trains,” Baffert, whose seventh Preakness victory saw him tie 19th-century horseman R. Wyndham Walden for the all-time record, said. “Right now, I don’t see why not.”

Just getting through the Preakness was a test for Justify. When Smith looked over his shoulder early and saw Good Magic he thought, “Oh man, it’s going to be a match race from this point on,” and Justify held up to the challenge down the backstretch and late as Bravazo and Tenfold chased him down.

“They tested his fitness today,” Smith said after his second Preakness win and first since 1993. “This is his hardest race that he’s had.”

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2018