Jose Ortiz atop Early Voting wins the 147th running of the Preakness Stakes horse race at Pimlico Race Course, Saturday, May 21, 2022, in Baltimore. (AP News photo)
By Jessica Kwong
A favorite among politicians, Early Voting won the 147th Preakness Stakes race at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on Saturday evening.
Ridden by jockey Jose Ortiz, Early Voting edged out the favorite, Epicenter, who came in second, and Creative Minister who took third. Early Voting followed the leaders for much of the running before taking first in the final turn and finishing 1 ¼ lengths ahead of Epicenter. Epicenter came in second, just as he did in the Kentucky Derby.
Early Voting won five years after his trainer Chad Brown and owner Seth Klarman won the race with Cloud Computing.
“We thought he needed a little more seasoning, the extra rest would help him,” said Klarman. “He was pretty lightly raced – only three races before today. And as it turned out, that was the right call. We wanted to do right by the horse, and we’re so glad we waited.”
Early Voting, with a 1:54:54 winning time, paid $13.40, $4.60 and $3.60. Meanwhile, Epicenter paid $2.80 and $2.40. Creative Minister paid $4.20.
Early Voting’s team originally planned for him to try to take the lead. However, when Armagnac took the lead held Early Voting back as Epicenter ran inside the rail.
“I was never worried. Once we had a good target, I actually preferred that,” said Brown.
“We were fine to go to the lead, but I thought down the back side it was going to take a good horse to beat us. And a good horse did run up on us near the wire and it was about the only one that could run with us.”
It is Early Voting’s third win in four career races taking the $900,000 winner’s share of the $1.65 million purse.
“Early Voting is the winner of the Preakness and deserves all the credit for doing so, and nothing but,” Epicenter’s trainer Steve Asmussen said.
The final race of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, takes place on June 11.
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