Kentucky Derby favorite Essential Quality and runner-up Mandaloun will not challenge Medina Spirit in the Preakness. Trainer Brad Cox says he’ll skip the second jewel of the Triple Crown with those two horses and Caddo River, who was scratched from the Derby for spiking a fever. Essential Quality finished fourth after going off as the 3-1 favorite in the Derby. Mandaloun finished a half-length back of Medina Spirit as a 27-1 long shot. Two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer Bob Baffert is expected to saddle Concert Tour in the Preakness along with Medina Spirit, his seventh Derby winner. Baffert is going for a record eighth Preakness victory.
