Kentucky Derby champ draws ninth spot for Preakness

BALTIMORE, Maryland (AFP) –

Exercise rider Jonny Garcia takes I’ll Have Another over the track in preparation for the 137th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course on May 16, 2012 in Baltimore, Maryland. I’ll Have Another will leave from the ninth gate.

Kentucky Derby winner I’ll Have Another will leave from the ninth gate in Saturday’s 137th Preakness, two spots outside where Derby runner-up Bodemeister was drawn on Wednesday.

I’ll Have Another, a chestnut colt, charged from behind to beat Bodemeister by 1 1/2 lengths two weeks ago at Churchill Downs to give himself a chance at becoming the first horse since 1978 to sweep US horse racing’s Triple Crown.

Not since Affirmed did so 34 years ago has a horse completed the treble by sweeping the Derby, the Preakness and next month’s Belmont Stakes in New York.

Bodemeister was made the early oddsmaker’s favorite, in part because the Preakness is the shortest of the Triple Crown races — one-16th of a mile shorter than the 1 1/4-mile Derby.

I’ll Have Another ran only three times last year before suffering a shin injury last September. He did not run again until this past February at Santa Anita, and then earned a trip to Kentucky by winning April’s Santa Anita Derby.

The starting order for the Preakness has Tiger Walk starting from the inside rail following outward in order by Teeth of the Dog, Pretension, Zetterholm, Went The Day Well, Creative Cause, Bodemeister, Daddy Nose Best, I’ll Have Another, Optimizer and Cozzetti.