BALTIMORE – The Preakness draw was over, and trainer Shug McGaughey listed a variety of reasons why he was OK with having Kentucky Derby winner Orb starting Saturday's race from the rail.
Then someone asked him, "If you had your choice, where would you want to be?"
Without hesitation, McGaughey responded, "The outside."
Despite getting the inside post in Wednesday's draw, Orb was made an even-money favorite to win the Preakness and keep alive his bid to become horse racing's first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.
"I saw it bounced around in the papers that we would be 4-5," McGaughey said. "I am a little surprised that with him being even money, with the next shot was 5-1. That's a pretty good spread. We'll see what the public does. Like I always say, I wish every horse I run would be the favorite."
The brown colt is looking for his sixth consecutive victory as part of the smallest Preakness field since 2007. Governor Charlie, trained by Bob Baffert, added his name to the list Wednesday for the 1 3/16th-mile race.
Starting from the inside won't help, but McGaughey reasoned it's a lot better than getting the No. 1 post at Churchill Downs for the Derby.
"It's not nearly the problem it would be in the Derby," he said. "The Derby is kind of catty-cornered. You got to shove your way out of there or you get shut off down in there. It's pretty straightforward here. There are only nine horses. There's not going to be that kind of jockeying into the first turn. We'll just hold our position and see how the race plays out."
