The 147th running of the Preakness Stakes, which is the second leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown, will take place on Saturday, May 21 at 7:01 p.m. ET at Pimlico Racetrack in Baltimore.
The field for the Preakness Stakes looks very different compared to what we saw at the Kentucky Derby.
While the first leg of the 2022 Triple Crown featured a deep field that made it wide open and put the onus on punters to find the longshot that could take advantage of the chaos, the Preakness is a little more straight-forward.
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Whereas the Derby featured a 20-horse field and a luke-warm favorite, only nine horses will make the trip to Pimlico for the Preakness – and there is a clear favorite among them.
No. 8 Epicenter, who is trained by Steve Asmussen and is coming off a runner-up finish at Churchill Downs, is the 6-5 morning-line favorite and could go off even shorter than that.
Epicenter’s main competition is expected to come from No. 5 Early Voting, which is the second choice after finishing as the runner-up at the Wood Memorial on April 9 at Aqueduct Racetrack.
No. 4 Secret Oath is the third-favorite with 9-2 odds. Secret Oath, a filly who is trained by D. Wayne Lukas, is coming off a victory at the Kentucky Oaks and a third-place finish against the boys at the Louisiana Derby.
A win for Secret Oath would be the second time in three years that a filly took home the title, as Swiss Skydiver won the 2020 edition of the race.
With a small field and a clear favorite, the handicap for the Preakness will be very different compared to what it was for the Derby. In a 20-horse field, variance will reign supreme, so it made sense to avoid laying too much with the chalk. In a smaller field, things are likely to follow a more projectable script which means punters need to figure out if — and how — they’re going to use the favorite.
Betting on the Preakness Stakes?
- Prepare with the Preakness Stakes Bettor’s Guide
- Check out all the best Preakness Stakes betting sites
- Find out how to bet on the Preakness Stakes
One thing that horseplayers should keep in mind for the Preakness is that we could see a lot of casual money come in on also-rans like No. 6 Happy Jack (30-1) and No. 3 Fenwick (50-1). Rich Strike’s historic upset as an 80-1 long shot at the Kentucky Derby proved that anything can happen in the small sample of one-horse race, but it’s very unlikely that lightning strikes twice in a row here. That won’t stop people from trying to capture the magic by playing the longest odds on the board at Pimlico. Recency bias is a real thing when it comes to handicapping all sports.
2022 Preakness Odds
| POST POSITION | HORSE | ODDS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Simplification | 6-1 |
| 2 | Creative Minister | 10-1 |
| 3 | Fenwick | 50-1 |
| 4 | Secret Oath | 9-2 |
| 5 | Early Voting | 7-2 |
| 6 | Happy Jack | 30-1 |
| 7 | Armagnac | 12-1 |
| 8 | Epicenter | 6-5 |
| 9 | Skippylongstocking | 20-1 |