The middle jewel of the Triple Crown is coming right up, with the 2022 Preakness Stakes scheduled to take place this coming Sunday. Rich Strike won’t be there to try to keep a Triple Crown dream alive, but there are definitely enough non-favorite horses that could pull off a Rich Strike. With that said, here are three sleepers for the 2022 Preakness Stakes.
Simplification raced at the 2022 Kentucky Derby and nearly had a podium finish if it weren’t for Rich Strike coming out of nowhere to pull the rug under from the rest of the field. In the end, the 3-year-old colt finished fourth behind Rich Strike, Epicenter, and Zandon. But Simplification has shown much promise in the previous races, having won the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park and third at the Grade 1 Florida Derby. At the Grade 3 Holy Bull, Simplification started badly but regained his pace just enough to finish runner-up and collect four points to qualify for the 2022 edition of the Run for the Roses.
Although Creative Minister has only raced three times in his career thus far, he’s definitely a horse that doesn’t have to beg for attention. Even though the likes of Epicenter and Early Voting are the ones getting much of the focus, Creative Minister does seem to have a fantastic resume, albeit a short one. Creative Minister has won his last two races. He broke his maiden in his second career start and then finished first as well in an allowance race at Churchill Downs.
Armagnac recently turned heads with a win at an allowance race at Santa Anita Park earlier this month. That was his first win since breaking his maiden in his second career start back in January. Armagnac, who has not raced outside of Santa Anita Park so far in his competitive career, is said to have a notable front-end speed. In the saddle for Armagnac at Pimlico Race Course will be Irad Ortiz. Jr., who has won a total of three Eclipse Awards. He was also the jockey of Midnight Bourbon when it finished runner-up at the 2021 edition of the Preakness Stakes.
