There is no point in further arguing (for those of us who have been) about what the major factor(s) was/were that lead to War Emblem winning the Derby. It's over, he won. Some cashed tickets, some didn't.

I think a bigger concern now is what may happen in the Preakness. Obviously nobody can predict until the day of the race if there will any track bias, nor do we know exactly who will be opposing him this time around. My concern is that he may just go out to the lead again and the other riders may just take holds again, making sure they avoid getting their own horses involved in a suicide duel. They did it once, so what's to say that wouldn't do it again? Proud Citizen and Medaglia D'Oro proved in the Derby that they are fully-capable of running strong races without using wire-to-wire tactics, so I wouldn't think those two would be gunning too fast early. Is it possible that War Emblem and Victor Espinoza steal the Preakness too? The level of competition certainly won't be quite as tough as in the Derby, right?