Early Voting victorious in Preakness Stakes at Pimlico

Early Voting handed Epicenter another Triple Crown heartbreak on Saturday, holding off the Kentucky Derby runner-up to win the $1.65m Preakness Stakes at Pimlico.

A fresh horse after sitting out the Kentucky Derby, Early Voting validated the decision by trainer Chad Brown and owner Seth Klarman to skip the first jewel of US Flat racing's Triple Crown.

On a sultry evening in Baltimore, where temperatures hit 34C, Early Voting broke smartly out of the fifth post, then sat tight as Armagnac took the lead with Epicenter and fancied filly Secret Oath bringing up the rear of the nine-horse field.

Jose Ortiz took Early Voting to the lead on the turn for home and repelled the challenge of Epicenter, who finished one and a half lengths behind in second, with Creative Minister back in third.

The winner returned a 57-10 shot on the US tote, but just 4-1 on the Irish and UK industry prices.

"They had enough points to run in the Derby and they passed," said the winning rider. "It's hard to get an owner to pass on the Derby and they did the right choice by the horse.

"I didn't think he was seasoned enough to run in that 20-horse field and they proved that they were right today."

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Brown, who saddled Preakness winner Cloud Computing for Klarman in 2017, said: "Honestly, I was never worried."

"I thought on the backside it was going to take a good horse to beat us. And a good horse did run up on us near the wire and that was about the only one that could run up on us."

It was a second straight disappointment