With the first four horses under the wire in the Kentucky Derby bypassing the second leg of the Triple Crown, the best finishers from that race returning in the Preakness are Improbable, a grinding fifth (promoted to fourth) as the favorite in Kentucky after an overall good trip, and War of Will, eventually fading to eighth after being part of the trouble at the five-sixteenths pole that led to the disqualification of Maximum Security. While either of those two would be a logical winner Saturday, the reality is that they do not exactly hold any kind of edge over many of the new shooters in the Preakness field. BOURBON WAR did not make the cutoff for points needed to participate in the Derby after finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Florida Derby, a race that was run at a moderate tempo that did not suit his closing style. He had a better setup in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth one start prior and earned a new top Beyer Speed Figure in that race while rallying to finish a close second to Code of Honor, who was third under the wire in Kentucky before being promoted to second. Bourbon War is a well-bred colt who appears to still be heading the right way, and with no shortage of speed signed on to the Preakness, he projects to have the right kind of setup in front of him at a square price. IMPROBABLE is the horse to beat Saturday, despite his 0-for-3 record as a 3-year-old. It isn’t quite fair to say that he was adversely affected by the sloppy tracks he has been forced to run over in his last two starts, but he is a colt who may simply be better over fast dirt. His best race clearly makes him a strong contender in the Preakness. There are still some lingering distance concerns with him, but there is no denying his inherent talent. ANOTHERTWISTAFATE is a maiden on dirt to this point, but his last two starts – seconds in both the Grade 3 Sunland Derby and the Grade 3 Lexington with competitive figures – confirm that he is just fine over this surface. He does not appear to have distance limitations, and he owns the kind of tactical speed that can lead to a nice trip tracking the pace in this race. ALWAYSMINING is the local hope, and he is streaking into the Preakness on the back of six straight wins dating back to October. He is going to be tested for class in this race, and he will have to prove that he can handle pace pressure from some better horses, but he has been impressive in dominating lower-level 3-year-olds on his way here. He showed a nice tactical gear when stretched out to nine furlongs in the Tesio last month.