The favourite for the Preakness Stakes is Justify, who a couple of weeks ago ran out as the winner of the Kentucky Derby. The Preakness, which is hosted at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland is the second leg of the famous Triple Crown in US Racing (opening with the Kentucky Derby and ending with the Belmont Stakes).
The Preakness is for three-year-old Thoroughbreds and the first edition of the race was in 1873 so it has a long history. There have been some famous winners of this famous race of course, including Secretariat (who still holds the race record from 1973) and the 2015 Triple Crown champion American Pharoah. Last year’s edition was won by Cloud Computing.
Preakness Stakes 2018 Odds*
Justify 4/9, Good Magic 7/2, Quip 16/1, Diamond King 20/1, Bravazo 25/1, Lone Sailor 25/1, Sporting Chance 225/1, Tenfold 25/1* (Betting Odds taken at 8:05 p.m. on May 14th, 2018)
Preakness Stakes 2018 Preview
Punters will Justify getting their action down on the outright 4/9 favourite* (Betting Odds taken at 8:05 p.m. on May 14th, 2018) for the Preakness 2018 betting. The Colt took the win at the Kentucky Derby by two-and-a-half lengths and he was comfortably dominant in the opening leg of the Triple Crown. That took his career to 4-0 and much was made about him becoming the first winner of the Derby after not having had a run as two year old.
It clearly didn’t matter and he is also just the ninth undefeated Derby winner in the history of the famous race. So what of his chances in Maryland? While he is back at the head of the market landing the Triple Crown is not an easy thing. That is why so much hype was on American Pharaoh’s success in 2015 because that is the only horse to have done it in the last forty years.
That having been said though, Justify is a classy powerful horse and there is some recent form in backing the same horse to win the opening two legs of the Triple Crown. The Kentucky Derby and the Preakness are fairly similar races and it is the longer endurance test in tougher conditions at the Belmont Stakes which usually derails challengers on the road to the Triple Crown.
Kentucky Derby/Preakness Doubles
There have been three horses in the last six editions of the Triple Crown who have won the opening two races. There was I’ll Have Another in 2012, California Chrome in 2014 and then American Pharaoh in 2015. Looking back a little further, since 1997 it has been achieved ten times in twenty-one occasions.
The challenge for Justify is well is the majority of the field is going to be coming into the Preakness fresher than he is because a lot of the Derby field isn’t turning up for this. Given that the conditions at the Churchill Downs were pretty ugly and wet that will have taken a little extra out of Justify. Who is looking the most likely to derail Justify’s challenge? Good Magic is back after his second place behind Justify at the Kentucky Derby and was an early entry into the race. But again, similar circumstances is likely to produce a similar result.
Bravazo is an interesting one at a longer price who could show even better against lesser challenging opposition in the Preakness after his sixth place finish at Churchill Downs and at 25/1 odds* (Betting Odds taken at 8:05 p.m. on May 14th, 2018) isn’t a bad option to back at each way either. Quip was beaten by Magnum Moon at Oaklawn Park in April in the Grade 1 first scrap and doesn’t quite look to be there for this challenge.
But it is Diamond King who has been the big mover in the field. Out at 28/1 odds at one point, he is down to 20/1* (Betting Odds taken at 8:05 p.m. on May 14th, 2018) and that was after delivering a win as the favourite at Laurel Park in mid-April at the Federico Tesio Stakes. He is still a long shot though in stepping up to get in the frame at this leg of the Triple Crown but again isn’t a bad each-way option.
Preakness Predictions
On the shorter race, Bob Baffert’s Justify should still deliver the win. The only slight question is how well he can recover from his Derby feat in the mud? This field isn’t as strong as the Kentucky Derby was and the quality of Justify could just shine through at the end. We like Bravazo as a big each-way shot to pull things together and get in the frame to place.
