Trainer John Ward is concerned about Monarchos handling the tighter turns at Pimlico on Saturday.

Monarchos will be attempting to add the Preakness to his Derby victory and move on to the June 9 Belmont Stakes with a chance to become the 12th Triple Crown winner. Point Given is attempting to rebound from a disappointing fifth-place finish in the Derby.

The draw, held at the ESPN Zone in Baltimore's Inner Harbor area, was a two-step process in which trainers picked post positions after a random draw determined selection order. John T. Ward Jr., who trains Monarchos for owner John Oxley, had the second selection, and took post seven after conferring by telephone with jockey Jorge Chavez.

"Before it all started, Jorge wanted seven. It worked out perfect," Ward said. "In the Derby, Jorge wanted 15 and got 16. He can go to Vegas after Saturday."

Point Given broke from the outside post 17 in the Derby. He again is on the far outside for the Preakness. His trainer, Bob Baffert, was disappointed, but tried to find a sliver of hope.

"I drew the 11 post with Real Quiet and I was sick about it," Baffert said of his 1998 Preakness winner. "But it all worked out, so maybe it'll turn out well here."

"The Preakness is a different type of race," Baffert added, comparing it to the Derby. "It's a smaller field, everybody's riding more of a heady race, whereas in the Derby everybody's in la-la land. I think it's a smoother-run race."

The purse of the Preakness is $1 million, with $650,000 going to the winner. All 11 runners carry 126 pounds.

The field for the 1 3/16-mile Preakness has six fewer runners than the 1 1/4-mile Derby. Only five of the 17 horses who ran in the Derby are returning for the Preakness, and those five are the first five choices on the early line set by Mike Watchmaker, Daily Racing Form's national handicapper.

Watchmaker has Monarchos at 2-1, with Point Given next at 5-2, and Congaree, who finished third in the Derby, third at 3-1. The distant fourth choice is A P Valentine, at 10-1, with Dollar Bill at 12-1. Of the six newcomers, Watchmaker's shortest price is the 15-1 on Richly Blended, the winner of the Withers Stakes and the expected pacesetter in the Preakness.

Richly Blended had the first selection. Trainer Ben Perkins Jr. took post position six, exactly in the middle of the field.

Richly Blended completed his serious training Wednesday morning at Pimlico with an easy half-mile workout in 49.80 seconds under jockey Rick Wilson, who will ride Richly Blended in the Preakness.

"He just does what we ask him to do," Perkins said.

The forecast for Saturday is for a splendid day, with high temperatures in the mid-70's and no humidity. However, the National Weather Service has forecast a 60 percent chance of rain on Thursday, and thundershowers late in the day Friday. If that forecast is accurate, the track still should be fast for the Preakness.

A crowd of 90,000 is expected at Pimlico, whose card begins at the unusually early time of 10:45 a.m. Eastern. The Preakness is the 11th race on a 12-race card that also includes the return of Flame Thrower in the $200,000 Maryland Breeders' Cup Handicap for sprinters, and a match between Breeders' Cup runner-ups North East Bound and Quiet Resolve in the $200,000 Dixie Handicap for older turf horses.

Post time for the Preakness is 6:04 p.m.

Monarchos went back to the track Wednesday for a routine gallop. He had an easy day Tuesday after a powerful gallop on Monday.

"I figure he's just about to jump out of his skin," Ward said. "We're just filling up the tank."

Four Preakness runners - Congaree, Dollar Bill, Mr. John, and Point Given - arrived at Pimlico on Wednesday morning after a flight from Louisville, Ky., where they had been training at Churchill Downs.

Congaree and Point Given, both trained by Baffert, looked well when they got off the horse van at Pimlico. Congaree was prancing, like a fighter entering the ring, and Point Given had no trace of the mild fungus that flared on his left rear heal before the Derby.

"It's all cleaned up. Gone," said Jim Barnes, Baffert's top assistant, who flew with the horses from Kentucky. "We were able to get a jump on it when we walked him for three days after the Derby, and got a chance to get some medication on it."

Congaree, Dollar Bill, and Point Given all went to the frontside stakes barn, which also houses A P Valentine, Griffinite, Monarchos, and Percy Hope. Mr. John, however, went to the backside portion of the stable area, where his trainer, Elliott Walden, kept Preakness runners Victory Gallop in 1998 and Menifee in 1999.

The arrival of the Kentucky-based horses means that only Bay Eagle and Marciano are not yet on the grounds. Both are stabled at Delaware Park, and will be sent here by van the morning of the Preakness.

- additional reporting by David Grening