The Preakness is tomorrow and Mine That Bird continues his quest to be the first horse since Affirmed in 1978 to win The Triple Crown.  Mind That Bird closed like a freight train to win the Kentucky Derby by the largest margin since the 1940s.  At 50-1 Mine That Bird was also the second biggest underdog to win the Derby ever.  A true Cinderella story.

However, with a jockey switch and a filly entering the race Mine That Bird has his work cut out for him.  From CBS Sports:

Now, is that any way to treat a lady? Rachel Alexandra, the Kentucky Oaks winner, landed the outside post when a field of 13 was entered on Wednesday for the 134th Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course.

Mine That Bird, the upset winner of the Kentucky Derby, did far better, winding up in post 2.

Rachel Alexandra is the lone filly in the Preakness field. Yet even though she will be making her first start against males, Rachel Alexandra was so impressive in the Oaks that she is the favorite on the morning lines set by both Mike Watchmaker, Daily Racing Form's national handicapper, and Frank Carulli of Pimlico.

Watchmaker has Rachel Alexandra at 9-5, with Mine That Bird next at 9-2. Carulli made Rachel Alexandra the 8-5 favorite, with Pioneerof the Nile, the Kentucky Derby runner-up, the second choice at 5-1. Carulli has both Friesan Fire, who was 18th as the favorite in the Derby, and Mine That Bird the co-third choices at 6-1.

The outside post did not seem to faze those connected with Rachel Alexandra, who was pointed to the Preakness only after she was purchased privately last week by Jess Jackson's Stonestreet Stable and Harold McCormick and turned over to trainer Steve Asmussen.

[...]

Mine That Bird got his first feel of the Pimlico main track on Wednesday morning, a little more than 12 hours after his arrival from Churchill Downs. His trainer, Chip Woolley, joked that the police escort Mine That Bird received for the final few miles of the trip was "the first time I've even been escorted by the police and didn't go to jail."

Woolley drove the van during the 10-hour trip, and said a few people along the highways recognized him and realized he was hauling the Derby winner.

"The cars would go by, then they'd slow down and wave," he said.

I'll be watching tomorrow and I hope all of you will too.  My money is on Mine That Bird, he is just a great horse with a great story.