Heavy favorite to start in middle

BALTIMORE — Albeit minor in nature, Big Brown sustained his first hiccup of the spring yesterday in Kentucky.

TWT Video: Ready for the Preakness

His plane was late.

Scheduled to arrive in Baltimore for the Preakness Stakes around 5:30 p.m. yesterday, Big Brown and trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. were delayed two hours because of weather in Louisville.

Co-owner Mike Iavarone represented Dutrow at the draw, where Big Brown drew post No. 7 and was made the overwhelming 1-2 morning-line favorite.

“They took off literally two minutes after his name was drawn,” Iavarone said at ESPN Zone.

Big Brown, who was able to wait out the delay in his stall at Churchill Downs, is expected to hit the Pimlico surface this morning.

A field of 13 will run the 1 3/16-mile race a little after 6 p.m. on Saturday.

The second favorite is 8-1 Gayego, last seen finishing up the track as the 17th-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby. Six of the runners are 30-1 long shots.

From the rail out: Macho Again (20-1), Tres Borrachos (30-1), Icabad Crane (30-1), Yankee Bravo (15-1), Behindatthebar (10-1), Racecar Rhapsody (30-1), Big Brown, Kentucky Bear (15-1), Stevil (30-1), Riley Tucker (30-1), Giant Moon (30-1), Gayego and Hey Byrn (20-1).

The field isn’t exactly oozing with talent. Big Brown is the only horse to win a Grade I this year. Only two others — Gayego and Hey Byrn — have any kind of graded stakes victory on their resumes.

Big Brown has started his last two races from the outside post, No. 12 in the Florida Derby and No. 20 in the Kentucky Derby. In Florida, he went right to the lead under Kent Desormeaux. At Churchill Downs, he showed a new dimension, contently running a little wide and around fifth place for most of the race.

Although not conceding the race completely, the competition knows the Preakness is Big Brown’s to lose.

“It’s going to take some good luck on our part and bad luck on his part to have a legitimate shot at beating him,” said Jeremy Rose, jockey of Icabad Crane. “Hopefully somebody will push him and goes after him [early in the race] or gets dirt in his face, which he maybe doesn’t like and that beats him.”

Said Yankee Bravo trainer Paddy Gallagher: “If he runs his race, it’s tough to see anybody beating him. We’re just hoping we can put on a good show.”

One of the confident trainers is Kentucky Bear’s Reade Baker. Kentucky Bear has only three lifetime starts but was a decent third in the Blue Grass Stakes April 12.

“I wanted to be outside of Big Brown so it’s perfect,” Baker said. “He breaks well and he’s doing everything right. Things couldn’t be better. I couldn’t be happier.”

Big Brown will be running on short rest for the first time in his four-race career. And after the grind of the Derby, even his handlers expect him to regress.

“I don’t know how much further he can progress,” Iavarone said. “If he progresses any further, then God only knows what he’s about. I assume he’s going to have some kind of bounce [regression], but as long as it’s not serious, I still think he can bounce and win.”

PREAKNESS FIELD

The post position order and morning line odds for Saturday’s Preakness Stakes in Baltimore:

No.HorseTrainer/JockeyOdds

1Macho AgainD. Stewart/J. Leparoux20-1

2Tres BorrachosB. Greely/T. Baze30-1

3Icabad CraneG. Motion/J. Rose30-1

4Yankee BravoP. Gallagher/A. Solis15-1

5BehindatthebarT. Pletcher/D. Flores10-1

6Racecar RhapsodyK. McPeek/R. Albarado30-1

7Big BrownR. Dutrow/K. Desormeaux1-2

8Kentucky BearR. Baker/J. Theriot15-1

9StevilN. Zito/J. Velazquez30-1

10Riley TuckerB. Mott/E. Prado30-1

11Giant MoonR. Schosberg/R. Dominguez30-1

12GayegoP. Lobo/M. Smith8-1

13Hey ByrnE. Plesa/C. Lopez20-1