For most sports fans, the Preakness exists for one reason: to serve as a to-do list item for any potential Triple Crown winner. But on Saturday, Orb, the Kentucky Derby winner and potential Triple Crown challenger, couldn't break free. Oxbow won, and there will be no Triple Crown in horse racing in 2013.

Eight times in the last sixteen years, a horse has won the first two races of the Triple Crown, and eight times has fallen short. This year, Orb appeared primed for a near-certain victory, with a powerful Derby finish and steady hand Joel Rosario atop the saddle. Orb started on the rail, a difficult position to begin, and hit the quarter pole in mid-pack. Oxbow led at the first turn by two lengths. Orb broke to the outside in the back stretch, and had difficulty making headway through a thick pack. Oxbow retained the lead through virtually the entire race, and won the race going away in a time of 1:57.54.

Shortly before post time, Orb was at 3/5

Kevin Krigger aboard Goldencents. (Getty Images)

Kevin Krigger hopes Saturday will bring a moment that has been 115 years in the making. The 29-year-old jockey will ride Goldencents in an attempt to become the first African-American jockey since 1898 to win the Preakness.

Krigger is attempting to break the mold by simply doing his job. A possible Triple Crown win has been a long time coming for one of the most eloquent riders in the game today. Krigger is No. 54 on the earnings list this year with over $1.3 million in purses and 25 wins in 2013. His success is a testament to a career where he has ridden his way to respect. With a good ride at Pimlico, Krigger has an eye on one of horse racing’s top prizes.

Krigger looks at the winner’s circle as his best personal statement.

(Getty Images)She is the Danica Patrick of her sport except that she actually wins her fair share of races.

Meet Rosie Napravnik, one of the best jockeys of her generation who is as much about substance as she is about flair.

All told, the 25-year-old New Jersey native has won 1,553 of her 8,075 career races and has career earnings of $48,963,221. She ran Mylute to fifth in the Kentucky Derby, the best ever finish by a woman in the race. She'll ride the same colt in Saturday's running of The Preakness and will become only the third female jockey in 138 runnings of the second Triple Crown race.

The pressure to carry the standard for women in her sport is just something that doesn’t register to Napravnik, however.

“I don’t feel that at all," Napravnik told Yahoo! Sports. "A lot of other people probably look at it that way. I really do this because I love to do it. People might just be noticing me now but I’ve been doing this for eight years, riding against the guys every day. I don’t feel responsible to break any records or win any particular races. But it’s something I’d like to do for me personally."

Napravnik said that her showing at Churchill Downs doesn’t mean anything special just because it was the best ever finish by a woman in the Derby.

“I can tell you I’d be much happier if I was third, I only missed that by a nose. For me, it feels like it is possible that I will win the Derby someday. It’s not for sure but it is possible I could win it. I am close enough to taste it. Now I don’t want to stop until that happens.”