BALTIMORE – Twenty-three horses entered the Kentucky Derby. Twenty were permitted to run. After five scratches, 18 actually did compete at Churchill Downs on May 6. Of the 18, only the winner, Mage, was entered to run in Saturday’s 148th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. Mage was expected to head an eight-horse field entered Monday in the Preakness, post positions for which were to be drawn early Monday evening. Since the current spacing of the three Triple Crown races came into being in 1969 – the Preakness run two weeks after the Derby, the Belmont three weeks after the Preakness – this is the first time only one horse who ran in the Kentucky Derby came back to run in the Preakness. In 2008, only two runners from the Derby – the winner Big Brown and 17th-place finisher Gayego – ran back in the Preakness. On Monday, Disarm officially became the last runner from the Derby to defect from the Preakness. After finishing third in the Lexington Stakes on April 15 at Keeneland and then fourth in the Kentucky Derby on May 6, the Preakness would have been Disarm’s third race in five weeks. Disarm is trained by Steve Asmussen for Winchell Thoroughbreds. That team will be represented in the Preakness by Red Route One. On Monday, Disarm worked a half-mile in 50.80 seconds at Churchill Downs, a somewhat typical move for an Asmussen-trainee nine days after a race. :: Get ready to bet the Preakness! Join DRF Bets and score a $250 Deposit Match + $10 Free Bet + Free PPs - Promo code: WINNING “I think we’re close but not there,” Asmussen said. “Had we not had to run in the Lexington” to get enough points to qualify for the Derby, Disarm may have run back. “I need to give those races a little respect and regroup with him,” Asmussen said. “Tempting, but if it’s not the right thing to do for him, then it’s not the right thing to do.” Asmussen said Disarm would likely be aimed for the Jim Dandy and Travers this summer at Saratoga. Asmussen and Winchell swept both of those races last summer with Epicenter, who had finished second in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. The other Kentucky Derby runner who was seriously considering the Preakness was Confidence Game, who had finished 10th in the Derby off a 10-week layoff. He dropped out of consideration Saturday after trainer Keith Desormeaux was not happy with how the horse had trained that morning. Desormeaux was scheduled to send Confidence Game to Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Kentucky for an evaluation. Thus, Mage’s seven rivals in the Preakness will all be fresh faces to the Triple Crown. With jockey, they include Grade 3 Lexington Stakes winner First Mission (Luis Saez), Grade 1 Champagne Stakes winner Blazing Sevens (Irad Ortiz Jr.), Grade 1 stakes-placed National Treasure (John Velazquez), Federico Tesio winner Perform (Feargal Lynch), El Camino Real Derby winner Chase the Chaos (Sheldon Russell), Bath House Row Stakes winner Red Route One (Joel Rosario), and Miracle Wood Stakes winner Coffeewithchris (Jaime Rodriguez). Mage, who will be ridden by Javier Castellano, arrived at Pimlico on Sunday after a 12-hour van ride from Churchill Downs. On a gorgeous Monday morning in Baltimore, Mage jogged one lap and galloped one lap around Pimlico’s main track. As of Monday, Mage was one of three Preakness horses on the grounds. National Treasure, the Bob Baffert trainee, arrived here Saturday and galloped 1 1/4 miles on Monday. Blazing Sevens, trained by Chad Brown, arrived Sunday and jogged one lap around Pimlico’s main track on Monday. Mage has previously raced against two of the Preakness entrants. When Mage won his career debut on Jan. 28, he defeated Perform, who finished fourth and has won two straight since. In the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on March 4, Mage finished fourth while Blazing Sevens finished eighth. :: DRF's Preakness Headquarters: Contenders, latest news, and more Gustavo Delgado Jr., son of and assistant to Gustavo Delgado, said he and his dad may prefer a little more space between races “but it’s the Triple Crown. It’s the way it’s been set up. We have to beat everybody if we want to win the race regardless if they’re fresh or not.” Thus far in his career, Mage’s races have been spaced out five weeks, four weeks, and five weeks part. This will be the first time he’s running back in two weeks. “Personally, I think he came back from the last race in better shape than the previous one to be honest,” Gustavo Delgado Jr. said. The weather forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies with a 30 percent chance of showers late Saturday. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.