Baltimore ? All the story lines in the Preakness Stakes today at Pimlico reduce to a single theme: The showdown.

Street Sense gets a bath while Paul Rutherford holds him in front of the media. Street Sense was awash in attention Friday in Baltimore.

Forget that trainer Todd Pletcher couldn’t beat Street Sense with his five-horse army in the Kentucky Derby – yet is back for another try.

Forget that legendary D. Wayne Lukas remains a part of the Triple Crown scene at age 71 – and could control the pace in this Preakness with Flying First Class.

Forget that only four of the 20 who raced in the Derby two weeks ago are back for the Preakness, joined by five newcomers to the Triple Crown series.

The main reason people plan to tune in to this race is to see if Derby runner-up Hard Spun can beat the Derby winner, Street Sense. Hard Spun has turned into the horse that many have believed since the Derby would get by Street Sense “next time.”

The rivalry between these two began only when they crossed the finish in the Derby, Street Sense 21â4 lengths ahead of Hard Spun.

But in the two weeks since that race, their showdown coming up in the Preakness has been a hot item for speculation.

This simmering pot never would have reached the boiling point except that Street Sense got the perfect Derby trip along the inside rail.

His jockey, Calvin Borel, knows every grain of sand in the track at Churchill Downs. Street Sense had all the advantage with the Derby run on his home court.

Now he’s facing a game away from home, against a worthy rival who led most of the way in the Derby – and whose jockey, Mario Pino, knows Pimlico the way Borel knows Churchill Downs.

It’s Friday night lights on a Saturday afternoon. It’s a race that will see Street Sense headed for a possible Triple Crown – or a high payoff resulting if both rivals lose to another in the Preakness field.

Hard Spun’s trainer, Larry Jones, conveys a sense of the job in front of his colt in trying to defeat Street Sense. Now that they’re away from Churchill Downs, Jones hopes Street Sense might be at a disadvantage.

“I’m hoping that he’s just better at Churchill than he is at some of the other tracks, that he won’t show up here as well as he did at Churchill,” Jones said.

“It’s hard to believe he’s going to get that great trip every race,” Jones added. “Sooner or later we hope to be in the right spot at the right time to capitalize.”

Yet Lukas, trainer of Flying First Class, has seen in Street Sense the reason Hard Spun might not turn around the Derby outcome.

“The thing that makes him effective is he’s got that supreme acceleration,” Lukas said about Street Sense.

“When Calvin sees a hole, this horse really accelerates,” Lukas said. “It’s kind of like driving an Indy car. You can just sit and draft, then you tromp on them and they can go.”

That’s precisely the way the Derby unfolded for Street Sense. He drafted behind other horses, moving at a steady pace up the rail, until he loomed into contention in the upper stretch.

Then, Borel stomped on him and told him to go. He pulled him off the rail, passed Sedgewick and Hard Spun, and came home an easy winner.

Although Street Sense is the favorite, and he appears to dominate his rivals, trainers like Lukas, Jones and everyone else with a horse in this 132nd Preakness thinks Street Sense is nonetheless beatable.

As Lukas said here this week, “It’s a whole new ball game. A new arena.”