While it doesn’t take keen handicapping acumen to determine that Nyquist and Exaggerator are the best of their generation, it’s still nice when the numbers verify those results. 
The weather forecast for Saturday at Pimlico Race Course is calling for 1-2 inches of pouring rain which could render the main track sloppy for the $1.5 million Preakness Stakes (G1). The second jewel of the Triple Crown will be run at a mile and three-sixteenths. 
On Friday at Churchill Downs, the track will host the $400,000 Alysheba Stakes. Scheduled to be run at a mile and a sixteenth on the main track, the Grade 2 event has drawn a field of ten colts and geldings. 
The $200,000 Grade 2 Eight Belles Stakes May 6 at Churchill Downs features an intriguing field of three year-old fillies set to travel seven furlongs on the main track. 
On Saturday at Charles Town, the featured race is the $1.25 million Charles Town Classic. Scheduled to be run at a mile and an eighth, the Grade 2 race has attracted a field of ten colts and geldings with one other, Incremental, listed as an also-eligible. 
The Grade 2, $150,000 Lexington Stakes April 16 at Keeneland is a difficult race to sort out on paper with ten three year-old colts set to contest the mile and a sixteenth race on the main track. 
On Saturday at Santa Anita, all eyes will be on champion Songbird as she continues her road to the Kentucky Oaks (G1) in the Santa Anita Oaks (G1). The Grade 1 event will be contested at a mile and a sixteenth on the main track and has drawn a field of seven. 
Coming into the Grade 1 Florida Derby April 2 at Gulfstream Park, there was little doubt that the winner of the highly-anticipated showdown between a pair of unbeaten challengers in Nyquist and Mohaymen would produce the Kentucky Derby favorite. Indeed it did. 
On Saturday at Gulfstream Park, the track will host the $200,000 Orchid Stakes. Restricted to fillies and mares, the Grade 3 event will be contested at a mile and three-eighths on the turf and has attracted a field of nine.