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Preakness - Betting Information
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The Preakness is the second jewel of the Triple Crown races with the Kentucky Derby being the first and the Belmont being the third. The race is held two weeks after the Kentucky Derby at Pimlico Race Track in Baltimore, Maryland. The two weeks between the races are meant to give the horses plenty of time to travel to Baltimore, rest and work on the new track.
The Preakness is a unique bet to make. The Preakness is more difficult to win for the reining winner of the Kentucky Derby because they are not racing against the same horses. Horses that ran in the Derby may go to Preakness; they may not. Horses that did not run in the Derby may run in the Preakness. This means that the race is a completely new challenge for the Derby winner.
Most fans are in hopes of seeing another Triple Crown winner after Affirmed in 1978. The last Triple Crown contender that we saw was Funny Cide, but he fell short in the Belmont on a sloppy track and finished behind Empire Maker in third. Other Triple Crown near misses includes War Emblem in 2002, Charismatic in 1999, Real Quiet in 1998 and Silver Charm in 1997. We had hoped to see one with Barbaro, but a pre-mature start from the gates and a hang-up with another horse kept the colt from completing the race with a severely fractured leg. He was being likened to Secretariat at the time.
When looking at betting on the Preakness you need to take into consideration that Preakness is the shortest race in the series. The Preakness is 1 3/16 mile when the Kentucky Derby is 1 ¼ and the Belmont is 1 ½. This means that any horse in the race has a viable chance because they are trained to run the shorter distances. This makes the race a very viable option for the sprinters in the field rather than your long distance runners. There have been several Kentucky Derby winners go on to win the Preakness, but there have been several unknown horses make their way up the pack in the homestretch to win by a nose. It is also not uncommon to see one horse take the lead and never look back.
Secretariat won the Preakness by two and a half lengths when Sham coming on strong from behind. Affirmed, the last Triple Crown winner, won all three races with Alydar on his tail in them all. However, Affirmed only got the Preakness by a nose. This shows that if the Derby winner is a strong runner, he will almost always have someone right behind him because the race is shorter and not as challenging to strong horses as the Derby is.
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