But there could be history of a different kind made in the wide open thoroughbred race.
Former schoolteacher Kelly Rubley would become the first female trainer to win a Triple Crown race should Alwaysmining claim the victory.
"That's not my driving force," Rubley told the Baltimore Sun. "But it would be very exciting."
The Maryland-bred horse ranks fourth in late odds after winning six consecutive races at Laurel Park.
At the top of the list is Improbable, the fourth place Derby finisher who heads the Preakness's 13-horse field that includes nine entries who did not run in the Derby.
A victory would enable Baffert to break a tie with Robert Wyndham Walden for the most Preakness wins. Walden won the race seven times between 1875 and 1888.
Ironically, Improbable is winless in three starts this year but was undefeated as a two-year-old.
“I feel like we’re favoured by default this year,” Elliott Walden of WinStar Farm, which co-owns Improbable, told The New York Times. “But this horse has a good resume. He ran very well in the Derby without hitting the board."
Second choice War of Will did run in Kentucky, becoming entangled with the disqualified Maximum Security and being placed seventh.
Maximum Security's owners on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit seeking to reverse the Derby outcome.
Anothertwistafate also is among the favourites along with Alwaysmining. Neither ran in the Derby.
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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