In a year when almost no Kentucky Derby runners, including the winner, are continuing on to the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown is ripe for the taking.

Trainer Bob Baffert considered sending out Crude Velocity, winner of the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile on the Derby undercard, to build on his record eight Preakness wins.

And the colt, who’s 3-for-3 in his early racing career, would have had a good shot at making it nine. Handicappers picked him as the 4-1 favorite when future wagering pools closed Sunday.

But Baffert announced Friday that Crude Velocity would not come to Laurel Park, the one-off site of the race as Pimlico Race Course in Northwest Baltimore is rebuilt. Instead, he’s under consideration for a graded stakes races on Belmont Stakes day or the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park in New Jersey in July.

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“It’s a little close for him. He’s been running hard, he’s been running fast, and he’s such a brilliant racehorse that I just think it’d be doing too much too soon with him,” Baffert said during an appearance on the radio show “At the Races with Steve Byk.” “And he’s a horse that we really want to enjoy him.”

Baffert indicated the stretch run between Crude Velocity and Englishman, the top two choices in the Pat Day Mile, was especially taxing. Crude Velocity drew away near the 16th pole for a 3 3/4-length victory, and he did it in a stakes-record 1:33.87.

“If Englishman hadn’t’ve been in there and I could have gone down there and won by a couple lengths and geared down, you know — but he made him run hard," Baffert said.

Preakness also would have been the colt’s first time running 1 3/16 miles and going two turns.

Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Cherie DeVaux decided against sending Golden Tempo to Preakness, saying her colt’s “health, happiness and long-term future will always remain our top priority.” Just about every other trainer has made the same choice.

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Only third-place finisher Ocelli, a 70-1 shot at Churchill Downs who has yet to win a race in seven tries, is under consideration.

Two horses that would have drawn into the Derby field, Iron Honor and Chip Honcho, were instead positioned for Preakness, and there’s a strong contender with local ties in Taj Mahal, trained by reigning Maryland Trainer of the Year Brittany Russell and ridden by her husband, Sheldon.

The full field will be set Monday at 5 p.m. during the post-position draw.

Even with all the attention being paid to the horses who aren’t running and the renewed debate about spacing out the Triple Crown calendar, Baffert lauded the field heading to Maryland.

“They’re all good horses, you know?” he said. “I think it’s still going to be a good race.”