BALTIMORE --The 2012 Preakness was billed as a rematch between Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another and runner-up Bodemeister.

It was exactly that. I’ll Have Another caught Bodemeister at the wire today to win the 137th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course and the first two races of the Triple Crown. He will go to the Belmont in Elmont, N.Y., on June 9 looking to become the first horse to win the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978.

BALTIMORE — D. Wayne Lukas likes to say the best horse wins the Kentucky Derby only 20 percent of the time. There's too much pre-race commotion, too much traffic on the track, too much mysterious racing luck that descends on that first weekend in May.

The Preakness is purer. The only bias is toward the best horse.

In Saturday's 137th running of the second leg of the Triple Crown, that appears to mean two horses have the best chance: Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another and runner-up Bodemeister.

And neither is going to be afraid to duel.

BALTIMORE—The "new shooters" are all long shots in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday.

The new-shooter angle has long been studied by handicappers analyzing the middle jewel of the Triple Crown. The theory holds that new shooters, horses who did not run in the Kentucky Derby two weeks earlier, hold a possible advantage.

For starters, most new shooters are fresher, having had more time to recuperate since their last race. They are also not dinged up, having avoided the 20-horse stampede in the Derby.

BALTIMORE (AP) Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Doug O'Neill could face a suspension in California after one of his horses was found to have an elevated level of total carbon dioxide, an infraction for which he previously has been punished.

The California Horse Racing Board is considering the case, which involves ''milkshaking,'' the illegal practice of giving a horse a blend of bicarbonate of soda, sugar and electrolytes. The mixture is designed to reduce fatigue and enhance performance.

Union Rags should get a job at the airport baggage claim area where he could get paid for sniffing around trouble. The break was a joke. That he finished where he did is a testament to how good he wishes he was.

If Bodemeister has any bodyweight left, he should win the Belmont Stakes by 15 lengths. Even thinking about him in the Preakness is tiring.

Louisville, Kentucky (CNN) -- I'll Have Another cut loose on the home stretch to run down Bodemeister and earn the first Kentucky Derby wins for his rider and trainer Saturday.

I'll Have Another, with a finish of 2:01:83, earned nearly $1.5 million of the $2.2 million purse.

That's quite a payoff for a horse that was purchased last year for the modest sum of $35,000.