Why He Could Win

• Pneumatic (20-1) – Owner Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC/trainer Steve Asmussen/jockey Joe Bravo
• Race record: 5: 3-0-1, earnings of $256,850

The Uncle Mo colt is certainly moving in the right direction after a dominant win in the Pegasus at Monmouth Park August 15 in which he earned a career-best Beyer fig of 98 and easily defeated Jesus’ Team, who then ran third in the G2 Jim Dandy and has been supplemented into this race…

Retains the services of Jersey Joe Bravo, who rode him in the Pegasus…

Asmussen has had 10 Preakness starters prior to this year — he has three this year — with two winners in Curlin (2007) and Rachel Alexandra (2009)…

Has a flexible enough running style that he should be able to work out a trip if he’s good enough…

Though the most common place to look for the Preakness winner is at the Derby winner — Authentic this year — another is a lightly raced, improving sort who missed the Derby altogether, and this one fits the bill: with just five starts, he’s the most lightly-raced runner in the group…

He thrived off a nearly-two-month break between fourth-place finish in the Belmont and win in the Pegasus, enters off a similar break here…

Why He Could Lose

Has finished behind two of his rivals here in prior starts in Max Player and Ny Traffic…

Will need to step up his game today, as he has yet to hit the 100 Beyer fig mark, one which has been eclipsed by six of his 10 rivals…

Had a pretty perfect trip in the Pegasus, but the pace up front is almost sure to be hotter in the Preakness, which may leave him toiling mid-pack…

Bravo, a talented jockey with a stellar career, has never been better than fifth in four prior Preakness tries, none since 2012…

What They’re Saying About Him

“On this track that’s about as good as horses work,” Asmussen assistant Scott Blasi said after Pneumatic had worked a bullet five furlongs in 1:00 4/5 over Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track September 21.

It was Pneumatic’s fourth of five works between the Pegasus and the October 3 Preakness.

“He’s trained really good since the Pegasus at Monmouth,” Blasi added that same day. “Off that work we expect a big effort in the Preakness.”

Video Past Performances