149th Preakness Stakes Betting Online
The 149th running of the Preakness Stakes will take place on Saturday, May 18, 2024 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. The Preakness Stakes is the second race in horse racing’s Triple Crown, following the Kentucky Derby which is held on the first Saturday in May and three weeks before the Belmont Stakes in early June. The Preakness Stakes has added excitement because Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan will be trying to keep his Triple Crown hopes alive. For the first time in 12 years, the Kentucky Derby winner will not be favored in the Preakness. The Bob Baffert trained Muth is the 8-5 morning-line favorite in the Preakness, while Mystik Dan is the second choice at odds of 5-2. Kentucky Derby winners have not had any recent success in the Preakness, as the last five Derby winners all lost in the Preakness. A total of nine horses are entered for Saturday’s Preakness Stakes. In addition to Muth and Mystik Dan, there are Catching Freedom and Imagination at odds of 6-1, Tuscan Gold at 8-1, Just Steel and Seize the Grey at 15-1 and Mugatu and Uncle Heavy at odds of 20-1.
Horse Racing Betting Lines
2024 Preakness Stakes At a Glance
Date: Saturday, May 18, 2024
Location: Pimlico Race Course, Baltimore, MD
Race Distance: 1 3/16 Miles
Record: 1:53 (Secretariat, 1973)
Purse: $2 million
Qualification: Three-year-old thoroughbreds
2024 Preakness Field (Horse, Trainer, Jockey, Morning-Line Odds)
1. Mugatu, Jeff Engler, Joe Bravo, 20-1
2. Uncle Heavy, Butch Reid Jr., Irad Ortiz Jr., 20-1
3. Catching Freedom, Brad Cox, Flavien Prat, 6-1
4. Muth, Bob Baffert, Juan Hernandez, 8-5
5. Mystik Dan, Kenny McPeek, Brian Hernandez Jr., 5-2
6. Seize the Grey, D. Wayne Lukas, Jaime Torres, 15-1
7. Just Steel, D. Wayne Lukas, Joel Rosario, 15-1
8. Tuscan Gold, Chad Brown, Tyler Gaffalione, 8-1
9. Imagination, Bob Baffert, Frankie Dettori, 6-1
Muth is listed as the 8-5 morning-line favorite, and Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan is the second choice at morning-line odds of 5-2. The horses will start next to each other with Muth in post 4 and Mystik Dan in post 5. “I thought it was perfect. Right next to Muth. Perfect,” Mystik Dan’s trainer Kenny McPeek said to the media. The two horses faced each other in the Arkansas Derby on March 30 and it was Muth finishing first and Mystik Dan finishing third.
The second-place finisher in the Arkansas Derby was Just Steel who is trained by six-time Preakness-winning trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Seize the Grey is the stablemate of Just Steel and he will be in the race. Catching Freedom, the fourth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby has post position 3 and is listed at odds of 6-1.
Imagination, who is the stablemate or Muth, will be fresh for the Preakness. Muth and Imagination were ineligible to be entered in the Kentucky Derby because of trainer Bob Baffert’s suspension that Churchill Downs gave him for Medina Spirit’s failed drug test in 2021.
Tuscan Gold could be a darkhorse contender on Saturday for trainer Chad Brown. The horse has raced just three times but he won the Louisiana Derby. The horse is overshadowed by his stablemate Sierra Leone who finished second in the Kentucky Derby. Brown has won the Preakness twice in the last seven years.
The two longshots on Saturday are Mugatu for trainer Jeff Engler and Uncle Heavy for trainer Butch Reid Jr. Neither of the horses look to have much of a chance, as Mugatu has just one win in 12 tries, while Uncle Heavy was very unimpressive in the Wood Memorial.
The favorite has won almost half of previous Preakness races, winning 73 of 149 times, but there has not been a Preakness favorite win since Justify won in 2018 on the way to winning the Triple Crown.
Preakness Stakes Winners (2000)
| YEAR |
WINNER |
JOCKEY |
TRAINER |
TIME |
| 2023 |
National Treasure |
John Velazquez |
Bob Baffert |
1:55.12 |
| 2022 |
Early Voting |
José Ortiz |
Chad Brown |
1:54.54 |
| 2021 |
Rombauer |
Flavien Prat |
Michael W. McCarthy |
1:53.62 |
| 2020 |
Swiss Skydiver |
Robbie Albarado |
Kenneth G. McPeek |
1:53.28 |
| 2019 |
War of Will |
Tyler Gaffalione |
Mark Casse |
1:54.34 |
| 2018 |
Justify |
Mike Smith |
Bob Baffert |
1:55.93 |
| 2017 |
Cloud Computing |
Javier Castellano |
Chad C. Brown |
1:55.98 |
| 2016 |
Exaggerator |
Kent Desormeaux |
Keith Desormeaux |
1:58.31 |
| 2015 |
American Pharoah |
Victor Espinoza |
Bob Baffert |
1:58.46 |
| 2014 |
California Chrome |
Victor Espinoza |
Art Sherman |
1:54.84 |
| 2013 |
Oxbow |
Gary Stevens |
D. Wayne Lukas |
1:57.54 |
| 2012 |
I'll Have Another |
Mario Gutierrez |
Doug O'Neill |
1:55.94 |
| 2011 |
Shackleford |
Jesus Castanon |
Dale Romans |
1:56.47 |
| 2010 |
Lookin At Lucky |
Martin Garcia |
Bob Baffert |
1:55.47 |
| 2009 |
Rachel Alexandra |
Calvin Borel |
Steve Asmussen |
1:55.08 |
| 2008 |
Big Brown |
Kent Desormeaux |
Rick Dutrow |
1:54.86 |
| 2007 |
Curlin |
Roberto Albarado Jr. |
Steve Asmussen |
1:53.46 |
| 2006 |
Bernardini |
Javier Castellano |
Thomas Albertrani |
1:54.65 |
| 2005 |
Afleet Alex |
Jeremy Rose |
Timothy F. Ritchey |
1:55.04 |
| 2004 |
Smarty Jones |
Stewart Elliott |
John Servis |
1:55.59 |
| 2003 |
Funny Cide |
Jose Santos |
Barclay Tagg |
1:55.61 |
| 2002 |
War Emblem |
Victor Espinoza |
Bob Baffert |
1:56.40 |
| 2001 |
Point Given |
Gary Stevens |
Bob Baffert |
1:55.40 |
| 2000 |
Red Bullet |
Jerry Bailey |
Joe Orseno |
1:56.00 |
Fastest Times
| YEAR |
HORSE |
TIME |
| 1973 |
Secretariat |
1:53.00 |
| 2020 |
Swiss Skydiver |
1:53.28 |
| 1996 |
Louis Quatorze |
1:53.40 |
| 1985 |
Tank's Prospect |
1:53.40 |
| 2007 |
Curlin |
1:53.46 |
| 1990 |
Summer Squall |
1:53.60 |
The great Secretariat still reigns supreme at the Preakness Stakes, but there have been times where other horses have challenged his record time of 1:53.00. Four horses have finished within a half-second, and filly Swiss Skydiver came the closest yet to breaking Secretariat’s record at this track.
Swiss Skydiver was tied for the third favorite at post time, but she bested Authentic at the wire by a head to win the 2020 Preakness Stakes. She was the first filly to win The Run for the Black-Eyed Susans since Rachel Alexandra in 2009.
Longest Odds To Win
| YEAR |
HORSE |
TIME |
| 1975 |
Master Derby |
23.40 |
| 1925 |
Coventry |
21.80 |
| 1926 |
Display |
19.35 |
| 2013 |
Oxbow |
15.00 |
| 1900 |
Hindus |
15.00 |
| 1909 |
Effendi |
15.00 |
It's hard to believe that there has never been a horse win the Preakness Stakes with a price of even 25 to 1 on his head. Master Derby is the longest shot to ever win the second leg of the Triple Crown at 23.40. Unlike the other legs of the Triple Crown where horses go off the board at 50 to 1 all the time and occasionally win, the Preakness Stakes rarely sees horses go off at those lofty odds. Oxbow, who was 15 to 1 in 2013, is largely considered to have pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Preakness Stakes history. Cloud Computing represented one of the bigger upsets in recent history as well at a price of 13.40 to win the 2017 Preakness Stakes.
Most Jockey Wins
| JOCKEY |
WINS |
YEARS WON |
| Eddie Arcaro |
6 |
1941, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1955, 1957 |
| Pat Day |
5 |
1985, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996 |
| George Barbee |
3 |
1873, 1876, 1883 |
| Bill Hartack |
3 |
1956, 1964, 1969 |
| Lloyd Hughes |
3 |
1875, 1879, 1880 |
| Gary Stevens |
3 |
1997, 2001, 2013 |
| Victor Espinoza |
3 |
2002, 2014, 2015 |
| Kent Desormeaux |
3 |
1998, 2002, 2016 |
Most of the jockeys you see on this list won the Preakness Stakes several times back in the day. However, it isn't out of the ordinary to see an active jockey go on a bit of a run. The most famous recent run came from Victor Espinoza, who won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes in consecutive years with California Chrome and American Pharoah respectively.
Kent Desormeaux won his third Preakness Stakes aboard Exaggerator in 2016, giving him a span of 18 years from his first Preakness victory until his third.
The record of six Preakness Stakes victories held by Eddie Arcaro figures to stand up for quite some time in the future though, as no active jockey has more than three career Preakness Stakes wins.
Most Trainer Wins
| TRAINER |
WINS |
YEARS WON |
| Bob Baffert |
8 |
1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2010, 2015, 2018, 2023 |
| R. Wyndham Walden |
7 |
1875, 1878, 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1888 |
| D. Wayne Lukas |
6 |
1980, 1985, 1994, 1995, 1999, 2013 |
| Thomas J. Healey |
5 |
1901, 1922, 1923, 1926, 1929 |
| Jim Fitzsimmons |
4 |
1930, 1935, 1955, 1957 |
| Jimmy Jones |
4 |
1947, 1948, 1956, 1958 |
Bob Baffert holds the record for Preakness Stakes victories with eight. The record of seven by Walden stood for 120 years, but Baffert tied the record in 2018 with Justify’s win and he broke the record with National Treasure winning in 2023. D. Wayne Lukas has six Preakness Stakes wins. It's plausible for him to get his seventh as well, though it's been a while since he's trained a champion three-year old pony, and his options are incredibly limited at the end of his career.
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