BALTIMORE – Once again, the wait was worth it. For the second time in a five-year span, trainer Chad Brown and owner Seth Klarman decided to pass on the Kentucky Derby with a horse eligible to the race, believing lack of experience would be betrayed, and that sitting tight for the Preakness Stakes two weeks later was a more prudent option. And as in 2017, when Cloud Computing won the Preakness in only his fourth start, on Saturday at Pimlico it was Early Voting who equaled that feat, winning the 147th Preakness Stakes in only his fourth start while providing Klarman, who grew up only blocks from here, with quite the present on his 65th birthday. Early Voting ($13.40), the third choice in the field of nine, got a heads-up ride from Jose Ortiz, who put the colt in position to win, while favored Epicenter was passively ridden early by Joel Rosario and wound up in an impossible spot from which to rally. Early Voting had a commanding lead at midstretch, and safely held off a courageous Epicenter to win by 1 1/4 lengths. :: Bet the Belmont Stakes with confidence! Join DRF Bets and get a $250 deposit match bonus, $10 free bet, and access to FREE DRF Formulator! Creative Minister, like Early Voting making only his fourth start, was 2 1/4 lengths farther back in third, 2 3/4 lengths in front of the filly Secret Oath, who had a dreadful trip, reminiscent of what she encountered when she faced males in the Arkansas Derby. Skippylongstocking was fifth and was followed, in order, by Simplification, Armagnac, Happy Jack, and Fenwick. Simplification bled, according to trainer Antonio Sano. Early Voting completed the 1 3/16 miles on the fast main track in 1:54.54 and was given a 105 Beyer Speed Figure. The Preakness was run on a hot, steamy day in Baltimore, with temperatures into the 90s. And it was run without the Derby winner Rich Strike, who bypassed the race to await the final leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, on June 11. But Rich Strike influenced the race. His 80-1 upset two weeks ago obviously impacted the mindset of bettors, because no one in the Preakness was longer than 18-1, and seemingly rank outsiders like Happy Jack and Fenwick were only 11-1 and 13-1, respectively. Epicenter was favored at 6-5, with Secret Oath, the Kentucky Oaks winner, next at 5-1. Early Voting also was 5-1, just a slightly longer price than Secret Oath. Early Voting, starting from post 5, broke well and was forwardly placed in the opening strides. But Armagnac set out more aggressively for the lead, and Ortiz elected to give Early Voting a target, something he and Brown had practiced in recent workouts. Meanwhile, Epicenter was not ridden aggressively from the gate, then had to check when Happy Jack drifted out before drifting in to put the squeeze on Secret Oath. As a result, when the field came under the wire the first time, Epicenter was eighth and Secret Oath last in the field of nine. Armagnac ran the opening quarter in a moderate 24.32 seconds, and then the pace quickened, the half being recorded in 47.44. At that point Armagnac led by 1 1/2 lengths, and Early Voting was two lengths in front of the rest of his rivals. Ortiz looked around, and didn’t see the two horses he regarded as his biggest worries, Epicenter and Secret Oath. “I decided to bide my time,” he said. After six furlongs in 1:11.50, it was time to act. Ortiz turned Early Voting loose, and he accelerated away, opening up a commanding 3 1/2-length lead in upper stretch. Epicenter gained ground late on the backstretch from his disadvantageous position, and made progress along the rail around the far turn and into the lane. He continued to close ground, but the wire was coming up quick. Ortiz took no chances, though. Early Voting had been racing toward the middle of the track, and he angled Early Voting over to make sure he saw Epicenter and not give Epicenter the run of the rail. Epicenter wound up altering course, but the race was over, and Early Voting was sufficiently clear. Epicenter’s second-place finish continued an inglorious streak for Derby runners who come back in the Preakness. Since 1961, the Derby runner-up has competed 44 times, and has won just three times, and only once since 1993. Secret Oath, after her rough start, made a midrace brush heading into the far turn, and wound up wide on the far turn. She closed as well as she could, but understandably didn’t have the necessary late punch after all she was asked to do. Early Voting, by Gun Runner out of the Tiznow mare Amour d’Ete, had made all his previous starts at Aqueduct. He won his debut going a mile on Dec. 18, then won the Grade 3 Withers on Feb. 5. In his most-recent start, he finished second in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial to Mo Donegal on April 9. Those two stakes performances placed Early Voting well into the top 20 on points for the Derby. But, following the template with Cloud Computing in 2017, Brown and Klarman decided to bypass the Derby. The decision proved wise well before Saturday. The Derby unfolded at a record pace, and Early Voting undoubtedly would have been caught up in it. “To throw him in a 20-horse field would not have worked out well for him,” Brown said. Ortiz agreed. “It’s hard to pass the Derby,” he said. “He wasn’t ready for a 20-horse field. “Passing the Derby, not a lot would do it. It paid off today.” While both Brown and Klarman were winning the Preakness for the second time, this was the first Preakness win for Ortiz, whose only previous Triple Crown race victory came with Tapwrit in the 2017 Belmont. He was visibly emotional after the race, owing to winning his first Preakness, but also because it was in concert with Brown and Klarman, for whom he’s won numerous stakes over the year. :: Get ready for the Belmont Stakes with DRF Past performances, picks, clocker reports, and betting strategies! “Chad and Seth have been very supportive of me,” Ortiz said. Klarman, who runs the hedge fund Baupost Group, paid $200,000 for Early Voting as a yearling. Early Voting earned a first prize of $990,000 from the gross Preakness purse of $1.65 million. Because of Early Voting’s relative inexperience, he will be given plenty of time out of this race. Brown basically ruled out the Belmont, saying the Travers this summer at Saratoga would be the next major target for Early Voting. “We want a campaign that leads to the Midsummer Derby,” he said, referring to the Travers’s nickname. The goal now is to try and win a year-end divisional championship. Beginning in 1997, 16 of the male winners of the Preakness have gone on to win the male 3-year-old title, compared to 13 Derby winners. The early returns are in. He has a Triple Crown race win to his credit, and there’s plenty of time to do more campaigning, all because of the shrewd move to pass the Derby. - additional reporting by David Grening, Marty McGee