The Associated Press

BALTIMORE - An odd coupling, indeed.

Trainers Bob Baffert and D. Wayne Lukas will run horses for the same owner in the Preakness, pairing racing's top rivals in a Triple Crown race for the first time.

AT A GLANCE

• What: 2nd leg of Triple Crown • When: 5 p.m. Saturday • Where: Pimlico Race Course, Baltimore • TV: 5, 22 • Next up: Belmont Stakes, June 7

Baffert's Senor Swinger and Lukas' Scrimshaw are both owned by Bob and Beverly Lewis and are among nine challengers taking on Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide on Saturday.

The 3-year-old colts are coupled in the betting, but neither trainer shares in the wealth if the other wins the $1 million Preakness. The goal is to beat favorite Funny Cide and derail the gelding's pursuit of the Triple Crown, but these guys want to beat each other in the worst way.

"I don't pitch him any slack - I take him on all the time," Lukas said Thursday.

Baffert and Lukas have been outrunning others in big races for years. Lukas is tied with Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons for most Triple Crown race wins with 13, while Baffert has eight. Lukas has five Preakness wins, Baffert four.

They insist they're friends, dating decades to their quarter horse training days. But Lukas, perhaps only half-kidding, says, "The bottom line is we're going to be good friends until he catches up."

A win by Senor Swinger, who moves back to dirt after winning on turf in his last start, or Scrimshaw, 11th in the Derby, seems unlikely. Funny Cide is the 7-5 morning-line favorite, with Peace Rules, third in the Derby, next at 8-5.

The Baffert-Lukas entry is the third choice at 5-1, but the odds would be higher if the colts were separate betting interests. Lukas also sends out Ten Cents a Shine, a 15-1 shot owned by Ken Ramsey.

The rest of the field includes Kissin Saint, Midway Road and Maryland-breds Cherokee's Boy, Foufa's Warrior and New York Hero.