Bet on the Preakness Stakes
World famous to race fans as the second leg of the American Triple Crown of racing, the Preakness Stakes is run at Baltimore, Maryland’s Pimlico racetrack every year on the third Saturday of May, two weeks after the Kentucky Derby is run at Churchill Downs. The race is open to horses three-years-old, and is run at a distance of 1 3/16 miles on the Pimlico dirt track. The race was first run in 1873 at a distance of 1 ½ miles, with Survivor the first winner.
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Playing the Preakness Stakes Odds
With a chance at racing immortality as a Triple Crown winner, the Kentucky Derby champ is almost always the favorite to win the Preakness Stakes. But history has shown the Derby winner doesn't always repeat in the Preakness, and so by clicking below and accessing live odds form Bovada.lv, you have the chance to find that longshot upset that could have you cashing a big ticket on the Preakness.
2016 Preakness Stakes Contenders
The 2016 Preakness will be run on Saturday May 21st. Post time 6:18 PM Eastern. The forecast for race day calls for rain, at times heavy. Here's the lineup by post position, with morning line odds:
1) Cherry Wine (20-1) – Stone-cold closer doesn't have a win at this level, but just missed 2nd by a head in the (G1) Blue Grass and, along with Exaggerator and Abiding Star, is one of three in the field with a win in the slop.
2) Uncle Lino ( 20-1) – Managed to hit the board in several of the California Kentucky Derby preps, but never as a serious threat to win. Front-runner will face lots of other early speed here.
3) Nyquist (3-5) – Going for the second leg of the Triple Crown, on paper he should win it. Only question is how he'll handle the surface if it gets really wet.
4) Awesome Speed (30-1) – Lower level stakes winner will want to be on the lead early and try and steal it from the front end. Not likely.
5) Exaggerator (3-1) – He closed more than seven lengths on Nyquist in the last quarter mile to finish second in the Derby. If he can stay a bit closer early, there's a chance. But he's tried that before and lost. The more rain, the better his chances.
6) Lani (30-1) – Will likely move forward from his ninth place in the Kentucky Derby, where he started slow and then was forced way wide late, but it's unlikely he'll move forward enough to contend.
7) Collected (10-1) – Has put up some good times winning three at the lower stakes level, and a move forward could put him on the board here. Can stick close to the pace from an ideal PP, and that's usually what is required to contend in the Preakness.
8) Laoban (30-1) – Was on the Also Eligible list for the Derby but didn’t get in. Along with Awesome Speed, is expected be in the early pace mix and then try to hang on as far as possible.
9) Abiding Star (30-1) - Comes into the Preakness off at five straight wins at Parx Racing and Laural Park, the last two on off tracks. But the first of those was a maiden claiming score in his seventh lifetime start, and since then the competition has been suspect.
10) Fellowship (30-1) – In much the same boat as Cherry Wine, in that late runners rarely win the Preakness and he'll be coming from way back. He does have three third place finishes in graded stakes, however, and could get a minor reward here.
11) Stradivari (8-1) – The Preakness will be only his fourth lifetime start, and first stakes. He's coming in off an impressive allowance win at Keeneland, where he crushed the field by 14 lengths, showing lots of speed in doing so. This is a big step up in class, and PP doesn't help.
OTB Maryland Picks:
1) Nyquist
2) Exaggerator
3) Cherry Wine
4) Collected
Did you know?
One of the most interesting storylines of the Preakness Stakes concerns the 1973 victory of the great Secretariat. Although he won the race, there was a malfunction with the electronic timer, and he was awarded a time of 1:54.2, two-fifths of a second off the race record, and the only record he did not break in his Triple Crown campaign. However, for the next 39 years his connections lobbied the Maryland Racing Commission for a review, and in 2012, the use of modern digital technology, and testimony by those who had hand-timed the race, led to the winning time being changed to a record 1:53, giving Secretariat the record times for all three legs of the Triple Crown, a distinction the big red colt holds to this day.