Justify draws No. 7 post for 2018 Preakness Stakes

By NBC SportsMay 16, 2018, 5:44 PM EDT
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Justify will look to keep his Triple Crown dream alive from the No. 7 post as the 2018 Preakness Stakes draw was announced on Wednesday.

Justify, trained by Bob Baffert, enters this weekend’s race at Pimlico as the favorite with 1-2 odds. Good Magic, which finished second at the Kentucky Derby, will take the No. 5 post with 3-1 odds.

Preakness Stakes: What Time, Where to Watch and More

American Pharoah won from the No. 1 post in his quest for the Triple Crown in 2015.

Here’s the rest of the draw for the 143rd Preakness Stakes:

No. 1 – Quip
No. 2 – Lone Sailor
No. 3 – Sporting Chance
No. 4 – Diamond King
No. 5 – Good Magic
No. 6 – Tenfold
No. 7 – Justify
No. 8 – Bravazo

Preakness Stakes Schedule
What: 143rd Preakness Stakes
When: May 19th, 2018
Post Time: 6:48 p.m. ET
Where to Watch: NBC, NBC Sports App

Click for the full Preakness Stakes race weekend schedule.

Santa Anita, Keeneland, Del Mar are Breeders’ Cup sites

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Associated PressAug 17, 2018, 3:23 PM EDT
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LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Breeders’ Cup has chosen Santa Anita, Keeneland and Del Mar to host its World Championships from 2019-2021 respectively, continuing its recent venue rotation between California and Kentucky tracks.

Santa Anita will host the season-ending event for a record 10th time in Nov. 1-2, 2019. Kentucky-based Keeneland (Nov. 6-7, 2020) and Del Mar (Nov. 5-6, 2021) will present the races for the second time each after debuting as venues in 2015 and 2017 respectively.

Breeders’ Cup president and CEO Craig Fravel noted those tracks’ success with the event in a release on Friday and added we “look forward to building upon past triumphs.”

Louisville’s Churchill Downs will host races on Nov. 2-3. The last Breeders’ Cup held outside California and Kentucky was at New Jersey’s Monmouth Park in 2007.

Victor Espinoza in neck brace at home after accident

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Associated PressAug 3, 2018, 7:32 PM EDT
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DEL MAR, Calif. — Hall of Fame jockey Victor Espinoza is wearing a neck brace while recovering at his San Diego home after fracturing a vertebra during a training accident at Del Mar.

Agent Brian Beach says on Twitter that the 46-year-old rider spent 11 days in the hospital and at a rehabilitation facility.

Espinoza says he initially thought he might be paralyzed after the July 22 fall at the track north of San Diego. He told ABC affiliate KGTV in San Diego that his body was numb and he could only move his right arm.

The jockey says the first time he cried was when he first started moving his right leg and by the time he got to the hospital he started moving his other leg.

Espinoza says his left arm is still numb. He will be in the neck brace for six weeks and hopes to make a full recovery.

He was exercising Bobby Abu Dhabi during morning workouts when the horse had an apparent heart attack and threw Espinoza off. Bobby Abu Dhabi died.

Espinoza rode American Pharoah to a sweep of the Triple Crown in 2015.