Preakness 2013: Horses That Must Overcome Poor Post Positions

The 138th Preakness Stakes is set to take place Saturday May 18. The second leg of the Triple Crown will have less than half of the horses the Kentucky Derby placed on the track, but the excitement should be the same with Derby winner Orb in the field alongside several worthy opponents.

But the Preakness has its disadvantages, too. With a smaller number of horses in the field, the start of the race becomes that much more crucial to the horse and jockey, and some post positions are frankly better than others.

With the release of the post positions for this year's race, it is evident that a few horses will have to overlook their placement at the start and try to pull off a marvelous race toward the finish.

Titletown Five is slotted at the No. 3 post position, with 30-1 odds to win the Preakness. However, Titletown Five and jockey Julien Leparoux are placed in between Goldencents (8-1) and Departing (6-1), who have far better odds for winning it all.

Much like Titletown Five, Oxbow will be jammed between experienced horses that have better odds. Mylute (5-1) and Will Take Charge (12-1), both of whom participated in the Kentucky Derby, where as Oxbow did not. That gives the No. 5 and No. 7 horses some insight that Oxbow doesn't own.

But this isn't Oxbow's first rodeo. In fact, this will be his sixth appearance at the Preakness, and he and jockey Gary Stevens will hope to overcome their unfortunate post position.

Forgive the broken record, but Govenor Charlie will suffer the same misfortune that Titletown Five and Oxbow must face. Govenor Charlie is, just like Oxbow, set to start in the middle of two Derby horses that have the experience of the first leg of the Triple Crown already under their saddles.

Govenor Charlie's inexperience doesn't help his case much, either. The young colt only has three wins in his career, with all of them occurring this year. It will take everything he has just to keep up with the rest of the field on Saturday.

More Info: Del Bosque: 'Iker is the captain and will be in the confederations'