Preakness Winner 2016: Exaggerator Dashes Triple Crown Hopes

BALTIMORE, MD — Early speculation said Saturday’s running of the 141st Preakness, the second leg in horse racing’s Triple Crown, was Nyquist’s race to lose.

But the previously unbeaten thoroughbred disappointed, losing at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore to Kentucky Derby runner-up No. 5 Exaggerator.

Nyquist, owned by Paul Reddam, is trained by Doug O'Neill and ridden by jockey Mario Gutierrez. Odds were 3/5 in the horse's favor at post time, with Exaggerator a close second at 5/2 oddes.

That leaves the Belmont Stakes, set for June 11 in New York, as the last race in the Triple Crown; but there will be no crown winner this year.

Cherry Wine finished in second at the Preakness, while Nyquist placed third.

Last year, American Pharoah won the Triple Crown by crushing all other horses first in the Kentucky Derby, then the Preakness and finally in the Belmont Stakes. His 2016 win ended a nearly 40-year absence of Triple Crown winners; Affirmed last won the trifecta in 1978.

Rain on and off Saturday left the track a soupy mess, and was still falling at race time.

Here was the lineup:

1. Cherry Wine
2. Uncle Lino
3. Nyquist
4. Awesome Speed
5. Exaggerator
6. Lani
7. Collected
8. Laoban
9. Abiding Star
10. Fellowship
11. Stradivari

There's a $1.5 million purse for the winner at the Preakness.

Two Horses Die at Track

The racing day began on a somber note when Homeboykris, the winner of the Preakness Stakes undercard race, collapsed and died shortly after winning the day’s opening race at Pimilco.

The 9-year-old gelding collapsed after leaving the winner's circle.

The Maryland bred horse was a former Kentucky Derby runner. A Pimilco official told the Baltimore Sun Homeboykris will be sent to New Bolton Center Hospital for an autospy.

Later, a second horse, 4-year-old Pramedya, suffered a left-front mid-cannon-bone fracture in Race 4 and had to be euthanized on the track.

How to Watch Preakness at Home

WBAL will carry live coverage starting at 1 p.m. from Pimlico. NBC Sports will broadcast live from Pimlico at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, with coverage continuing on NBC at 5 p.m.

XBTV will also carry live coverage online and interviews from Black-Eyed Susan Day and Preakness.

Pictured, Nyquist arriving in Baltimore at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport. Photo Credit: BWI.