"He's beatable," Baker said of Big Brown, the dominant Derby winner, who is a 1-2 morning-line favorite to beat 12 other horses at the Preakness. "He beat all those horses at Churchill, but he didn't beat us."

All you need to know about this year's Preakness is that the second choice in the morning line, at 8-1, finished 17th in the Derby, 361/4 lengths behind Big Brown. Only that one other Derby horse, Gayego, is even making the trip.

This time, Big Brown won't start from the far outside, as he did in winning the Florida Derby and the Kentucky Derby. He's in the exact middle of the field, starting from gate No. 7.

Thrilled with the post drawn last night, the Big Brown camp is fully aware that its horse could bounce, or regress after a peak performance, coming off his masterful Derby.

"As long as it's nothing serious, I still think he can bounce and win," said part-owner Michael Iavarone, who saw Big Brown run his first race last September at Saratoga and worked to buy a 75-percent share for his IEAH Stables.

Give Baker credit for speaking up for the seen-it-all veterans. Asked about Big Brown following up with another dominant race, Baker said: "Not many do. The special ones do. We'll find out Saturday if he's special."

Baker, who grew up working on his family's dairy farm and has been around horses for four decades, wasn't so much speaking up for his own horse as pointing out that there's a reason there hasn't been a Triple Crown winner in three decades.

"The special horses beat the Preakness horses and the Belmont horses, and then beat Curlin in the fall," Baker said. "It's a long way from the coronation."

During the draw, Iavarone was on the phone with trainer Rick Dutrow, who was just leaving Louisville, Ky., with his horse, delayed two hours by weather problems in Kentucky. Iavarone said Dutrow was "elated" by the post position, figuring his horse can finally save some ground. "He really thought we were going to get 13," Iavarone said.

This is the first time since 1980, and just the sixth time since 1918, that only two Derby horses are in the Preakness. Since 1983, only Red Bullet in 2000 and Bernardini in 2006 won the Preakness without running in the Derby.

Iavarone said he thought it was the quick two-week turnaround that kept the others away, rather "than the horse intimidating everybody." He said Big Brown would have gotten a break and stayed away from Pimlico if he hadn't won the Derby.

It's reasonable to think that Arkansas Derby winner Gayego's connections are here hoping for second place since getting drubbed in the Derby.

It also makes perfect sense that no other Derby horses are here. Runner-up Eight Belles, the filly whose breakdown right after the race caused her to be euthanized on the track, would not have been here, either. Owner Rick Porter had talked before the Derby about their plans to have Eight Belles in the top races for fillies this summer.

None of the other Derby horses came within eight lengths of Big Brown despite his wide trip, drawing questions about how any would be able to beat the fresh horses at the Preakness. It's a sign of this year that Kentucky Bear, 50-1 in the morning line for the Blue Grass Stakes before he finished third in that Derby prep, is 15-1 here.

Without a strong second choice, handicappers are looking for horses with the best excuses. Hey Byrn, the Holy Bull Stakes winner trained by Eddie Plesa, finished fourth behind Big Brown in the Florida Derby after getting bumped at the start. He'll get some support here, as will Kentucky Bear.

The only Preakness horse with much of any Philadelphia-area connection is 20-1 Macho Again, the Derby Trial winner trained by Dallas Stewart, owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, the syndicate run by Terry Finley of Mount Laurel.

But on Saturday, all eyes will be Big Brown, who should get near the front quickly and then see if he can race closer to that coronation. Asked about his horse's competition, Iavarone said: "I guess I should be afraid of Reade Baker's horse. That's what he's telling everybody, right?"

Preakness Field

Here is the field for Saturday's second leg of the Triple Crown, which will be run at Pimlico Race Course with an expected post time of 6:15 p.m., to be televised on NBC10.

PP   Horse            Jockey             Trainer          Odds

3. Icabad Crane . . .       Jeremy Rose      Graham Motion   30-1

4. Yankee Bravo. . .       Alex Solis         Patrick Gallagher   15-1

5. Behindatthebar . . .    David Flores      Todd Pletcher      10-1

6. Racecar Rhapsody Robby Albarado   Ken McPeek       30-1

7. Big Brown. . .          Kent Desormeaux   Rick Dutrow       1-2

8. Kentucky Bear   Jamie Theriot      Reade Baker      15-1

9. Stevil            John Velazquez   Nick Zito          30-1

10. Riley Tucker. . .       Edgar Prado      Bill Mott            30-1

11. Giant Moon. . .       R. Dominguez      Rich Schosberg    30-1   12. Gayego. . .          Mike Smith         Paulo Lobo          8-1

13. Hey Byrn. . .          Chuck Lopez      Eddie Plesa Jr.    20-1