BALTIMORE — The day looked much the same. There were wastebaskets catching rainwater seeping through the ceiling, cardboard and wood chips and carpets meant to soak up days’ worth of dampness at Pimlico Race Course. The track resembled peanut butter, not dirt, and the fog rolled in as if on cue, producing a thick white curtain as the horses loaded the gate, leaving the race caller to rely on television monitors, rather than what he could see with his own eyes.
The fans, in rain boots and parkas, were not deterred by the dreadful conditions: They wanted to witness the second act of what they hoped would soon become horse racing lore.
This was not 2015, when the Bob Baffert-trained American Pharoah went to the lead of the Preakness Stakes and stayed there, winning by 7 lengths to capture the second jewel in a storybook Triple Crown run — the first in 37 years.
On Saturday here, it was Justify, also trained by Baffert, who went to the lead, but he was soon challenged by Good Magic, the runner-up at the Kentucky Derby, so much so that their battle resembled a match race going into the stretch. But Justify shook free and then hung on to defeat Bravazo by a half-length in the 143rd Preakness and set up a shot at the Triple Crown at the Belmont Stakes in New York in three weeks.
“Not even the fog could stop him,” the race caller, Larry Collmus, exclaimed as Justify crossed the finish line for his fifth victory in as many tries and his third on a wet track.
With Hall of Famer Mike Smith on his back, Justify completed the 1 3/16 miles in 1 minute 55.93 seconds and rewarded his mud-caked backers with $2.80 on a $2 bet to win. Tenfold finished third, while Good Magic faded to fourth.
“I’m disappointed,” was about all Good Magic’s trainer, Chad Brown, could muster.
Baffert said Justify’s exhilarating victory had probably taken more out of him than it did out of the horse.
“It’s a lot of pressure,” Baffert said, “and we might not show it because we’ve been through this, but we hide it pretty well.”
Smith, who on Saturday got his sixth win in a Triple Crown race on the same grounds where he captured his first 25 years ago, acknowledged afterward that Justify, the colt with a perfect record in often imperfect conditions, was a little tired.
“A good kind of tired,” he said.
Smith, 52, was a good kind of tired, too, but he said he had more left to accomplish.
“At my age, man, what a way to ride off into the sunset,” he said, “although I don’t plan to retire anytime soon.”