“I’ve always been really high on this horse,” said a pleased Bob Baffert on Sunday as he watched Goal Oriented work a half-mile in 47.3/5 seconds. With the 150th Preakness Stakes just around the corner, the legendary racehorse trainer seemed quite confident that his colt would give the rest of the lot a hard time on May 17. However, as more information on the upcoming Triple Crown second leg comes to light, Baffert might have his work cut out for him.

In the days ahead of the weekend’s Preakness Stakes, there has been a lot of commotion within the horse racing community. With the 2025 Kentucky Derby winner, Sovereignty, pulling out due to a foot injury, all eyes were on second-place finisher, Journalism. But it seems that, like Bob Baffert, the 2025 Santa Anita Derby winner will also be in the thick of things, come Saturday, literally!

Daily Racing Form‘s David Grening took to X on May 12 to share details of the post position for all the horses running at the Pimlico Race Course on May 17. With Baffert being unable to make anything of his return to Churchill Downs, experts were sure that he would go all in to dominate the competition at the Preakness Stakes. However, as per Grening’s social media update, Bob wouldn’t have an easy time doing so.

David’s X post shared the post position for all the horses running at Preakness. As per the information, Goal Oriented will be starting the race from Gate 1, with Journalism at the adjacent gate. That would make many claim that Bob Baffert will have a good chance of winning the race, since horses starting from “inside posts” have to cover shorter distances. But here’s the catch: the shorter distance comes with the possibility of getting boxed in due to heavy traffic around turns.

And from the looks of it, celebrity jockey Umberto Rispoli won’t have it easy, either. On the other hand, Clever Again, son of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, will be starting from post 8, with the 2025 Lexington Stakes (G3) winner Gosger running out of Gate 9. While the outside posts require horses to cover longer distances than the others, it also provides them with the chance to evade others and mind their own business.

With eight Preakness Stakes victories under his belt, Bob Baffert knows what it takes to win the race. And with Goal Oriented breezing over the half mile at Churchill Downs on Sunday, the trainer looked pleased. “I just wanted a little maintenance work. I just wanted to see how he handled it,” the horse racing icon said about the colt’s performance.

But can the ‘Not This Time’ colt be enough to help Baffert forget his recent heartbreak?

Can Bob Baffert compensate for the Derby at Pimlico?

After three long years, the 72-year-old trainer finally returned to the iconic Churchill Downs Race Course only a couple of weeks ago. This was his first Kentucky Derby appearance since Medina Spirit’s 2021 victory at the race, a title which was later revoked following the horse’s failing the post-race drug test. On top of that, PETA urged the CDI to keep an eye on Baffert’s controversial training methods. Coming in with so much heat on his back, the fans were sure that Bob would whip out a miracle and silence everyone by winning his record-setting seventh Derby race.

And yet, it wasn’t to be. Bob Baffert’s best bet to win the race, Rodriguez, was scraped from running at CDI just days ahead of the Derby due to a hoove injury. However, the trainer remained hopeful. But all that optimism didn’t end well, as his second entry for Kentucky, Citizen Bull, failed to make any impression at the race.

But while Baffert looks for his first major win since his suspension, Journalism, too, has a lot to prove in the upcoming race. Despite being the favorite to win the Kentucky Derby, the 2024 Los Álamos winner only came in second, shocking everyone. And now, all eyes are on jockey Rispoli who is looking for redemption.

So, who do you think will come out on top this Saturday? How do you think the positioning would affect Bob Baffert’s chances of winning his first Triple Crown race this season? Tell us!