11 specialists in the horse raising sector have announced their top picks to win the 137th Preakness Stakes and only four horses made the grade. For Preakness betting, it pays to know how the top rides have performed the past few years and see if the odds-on favorites offer any value
Only three times in the past 12 years has the Kentucky Derby winner failed to finish in the money at the Preakness
Creative Cause (1), Bodemeister (3), Went the Day Well (3) and I’ll Have Another (4) are the popular picks to win the second leg of this year’s US Triple Crown and online sportsbooks have started to reduce the payback as money flows in from the sports betting public.
From 2000 through to 2011, seven favorites won the Preakness and it makes the Exactor a big play but compared with Kentucky Derby betting, it also creates a wide margin in pari-mutuel payouts. Here are some notes on the recent favorites that did not finish first at Pimlico Race Course.
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PREAKNESS FAVORITES
In 2000, Fusaichi Pegasus became the first favorite since Spectacular Bid (1979) to win the Kentucky Derby, was second at the Preakness to Red Bullet and missed the Belmont.
In 2006, Barbaro ran the Preakness as a heavy favorite but after a false start, injured his leg and could not finish the race. After several surgeries, those injuries would eventually lead to his death.
In 2007, Calvin Borel rode Street Sense to a Kentucky Derby win and finished second by a nose in the Preakness to Curlin. Street Sense also won the Juvenile Breeder’s Cup in 2006 by a record 10 lengths, making him the first ever to follow up the JBC title with a KY Derby win.
In 2010, Derby winner Super Saver grabbed the ‘favorite’ tag for the second leg of the Triple Crown at 5/2 on the morning line. Borel was atop this horse for both races and the win at Churchill was Borel’s third Kentucky Derby triumph in four years. It was trainer Todd Pletcher’s first win in 25 entries. At the Preakness, Super Saver started in the eight-post and finished eighth, his worst in graded stakes racing.
In 2011, Derby winner Animal Kingdom finished second to Shackleford (12/1) at the Preakness. Animal Kingdom (2/1), Dialed In (9/2) and Mucho Macho Man (6//1) were the top horses according to oddsmakers and they finished second, fourth and sixth respectively.
Shackleford started from the No. 5-spot, Animal Kingdom was No. 11 and Astrology (15/1), the ‘Show’ horse at third had the inside rail. Shackleford was just the second horse since 1998 not listed as the first or second favorite to win the race.