There is a saying that if you didn't go to the wedding, you can also pass the funeral and since I was not on board for Big Brown's biggest day in the Kentucky Derby, it's not fair to do anything but take a stand against him when he'll be 2-5 in the Preakness.

Interestingly, what Brown did for the nation and his connections in the Derby has not scared anybody away as a large field is intact and since against Big Brown is the theme, we have to address the new shooters.

Only 6 Preakness winners since 1970 have skipped the Derby but two of those winners Red Bullet and Bernardini, cashed in the last 8 years.

The reality is that the Derby winner has dominated in the Preakness the last 10 years as 6 took the 2nd jewel; one ran second, one ran third, one ran 6th and Barbaro, of course, did not finish.

One thing bettors always hear time and time again come Preakness week is that the Pimlico surface is speed conducive and you have to be near the lead to succeed. But that is not always the case.

Only about 18% of the winners in the history of the race have taken them flag fall to that's all so don't quickly buy into the myth about the sharp turns and the Baltimore highway.

Last year for instance, the runners that were one/two/three early, finished 8th, 9th, and 3rd respectively and the winner Curlin came from about 8 and a half-lengths off the pace after stumbling a bit at the start.

Backing locally based runners can also pay dividends in the exotics. Three Maryland-based runners, Sweetnorthernsaint (8-1) Scrappy T (13-1) and Magic Weisner (45-1) completed the Preakness exacta since 2002.

So who is going to make Brown's eyes blue? The feeling is that if Big Brown was not in the field, you could make a legit case for 8 or 10 others to win.

Brown's trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. has already acknowleged that Big Brown could bounce off his huge Derby performance.

Bettors should take a long look at Tres Borrachos. Sure, he has only won one race but he has run well at a number of different venues, has tactical speed, was far from disgraced in the Grade 2 Arkansas Derby and the blood is there too.

His dam banked over $400,000 and dam is kin to near $600,000 earner Byzantine.

Tres's trainer Beau Greely is from a legendary family as his father, grandfather and great-grandfather all trained for C. V. Whitney.

And Beau knows what to do with a good horse as he took the million-dollar Pacific Classic with Borrego.

If bettors want to get paid in the Preakness, they have to look to the superfecta to make a score. Before last year, when the top three picks were the trifecta players, the super has averaged nearly 6 grand for a buck wager.

How to bet: Key Tres Borrachos first and second in the trifecta with Big Brown, Hey Bryn, Behindatthebar, Riley Tucker and Kentucky Bear and hope to get paid.