BALTIMORE – Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan will face eight opponents when he seeks to win the second jewel of Thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown in Saturday’s $2 million Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. The last two pieces of the Preakness puzzle came into focus Sunday and Monday when trainer Brad Cox confirmed Sunday that Catching Freedom, winner of the Louisiana Derby and fourth in the Kentucky Derby, would run back in the Preakness and trainer Gary Capuano, via text, wrote that Copper Tax would not. Copper Tax was to be entered as a main-track-only entrant for the James Murphy Stakes scheduled for turf, according to Capuano. While the field was set Monday morning, post positions were to be drawn early Monday evening at a downtown Baltimore restaurant. Mystik Dan was the first Preakness horse to arrive at Pimlico, doing so Sunday afternoon following a van ride from Churchill Downs. On Monday, Mystik Dan galloped once around Pimlico’s one-mile muddy and sealed oval. Former jockey Robby Albarado, a two-time Preakness-winning rider who now helps out Mystik Dan’s trainer, Kenny McPeek, was aboard Monday as Mystik Dan easily got over the wet surface. As he was jogging Mystik Dan back following the gallop, Albarado said, “This kind of track Saturday? I’ll see you in the infield,” referring to the Preakness winner’s circle. In Mystik Dan’s one race over a muddy surface, he cruised to an eight-length victory in the Grade 3 Southwest on Feb. 3 at Oaklawn Park. :: Get ready for the Preakness with DRF past performances, picks, and betting strategies! “I’m not really opposed to rain this weekend. It’s in the forecast,” Albarado said. “Got over the track smooth for the first time, looked around, he was ready for another round.” As of Monday, there was a 60 percent chance of showers on Saturday, according to The Weather Channel. Albarado exercised Mystik Dan as a 2-year-old and said he could tell the horse was talented. “He just did things that good horses do. They do things effortless, they’re smart, they’re professional,” he said. “It’s like any athlete in basketball, football, if there’s a difference you can tell early.” Albarado said that he could tell in the immediate aftermath of the Derby that Mystik Dan had a hard race. “Like he was in a boxing match, he was kind of body sore from getting banged around first turn [and] turning for home. First time going a mile and a quarter, it takes a toll on them,” Albarado said. “The second day back I got on him and I’ve seen a progression since then. Since then, he’s gotten better and better. He’s pretty much almost back to himself. He’s eating out of the feed tub really well, and that’s a good tell. When he’s eating good, he’s doing good.” :: DRF's Preakness Headquarters: Contenders, latest news, and more Mystik Dan will be one of just three horses from the 20-horse Kentucky Derby field that will run back in two weeks in the Preakness. Catching Freedom, who was beaten 1 3/4 lengths while finishing fourth, and Just Steel, who finished 17th after getting used in a speed duel, are the others. Cox confirmed Sunday that Catching Freedom would run in the Preakness, following several days of galloping after the Kentucky Derby. “We don’t normally run back in two weeks. We put a lot of focus on the Kentucky Derby, so most of the time we don’t look at the Preakness that close,” Cox said. “This horse ran a good race in the Kentucky Derby. He’s a horse that breaks, finds his way, makes a good move from the half-mile pole home in his previous races, so therefore I don’t think it takes as much out of him. Physically, he looks good, so we’re going to enter.” Cox was content with the trip Catching Freedom had in the Kentucky Derby. Under Flavien Prat, Catching Freedom was 13th early but raced mostly in the two path down the backstretch. At the top of the stretch, he followed Mystik Dan through an opening along the rail and managed to close for fourth. Mystik Dan won the Derby by a nose over Sierra Leone, who was a nose better than Forever Young. “I thought he got a good trip and the winner of the Kentucky Derby got an incredibly good trip – jock rode him as well as you could ride a horse,” Cox said, referring to Brian Hernandez Jr. on Mystik Dan. “The horses that were second and third were very, very good, and they’re not in there.” The six non-Derby starters entered in the Preakness field include Muth, who won the Arkansas Derby, a race in which Just Steel finished second and Mystik Dan third. Muth is trained by eight-time Preakness winner Bob Baffert, who also will send out Imagination, runner-up in the Santa Anita Derby. In addition to Just Steel, six-time Preakness-winning trainer D. Wayne Lukas also plans to run Seize the Grey, winner of the Pat Day Mile on the Derby undercard. Tuscan Gold, the third-place finisher in the Louisiana Derby trained by two-time Preakness winner Chad Brown; Uncle Heavy, the Grade 3 Withers winner; and Mugatu, fifth in the Blue Grass Stakes; complete the field. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.