This is a listing of the horses that finished in either first, second, third or fourth place and earned a purse check along with the number of starters in the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing run at 1-3/16 mile on dirt for three-year-olds at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. Swiss Skydiver gave fans A Jewel To Remember at Preakness 145 when she outpaced the favorite, Authentic, in a photo finish to be only the sixth filly in Preakness history to capture the Woodlawn Vase, and first filly since 2009. Jockey Robby Albarado, trainer Ken McPeek, and owner Peter Callahan made history in the first Preakness Stakes race. Preakness racing is often times the forgotten race in the Triple Crown. Maybe, that’s because favorites do very well, but without a Preakness victory, the Kentucky Derby winner has no shot at taking home the Crown. At MyBookie.ag, we know that you’ll be paying attention to the Preakness.

• Preakness Stakes Qualifications
• Preakness Stakes Qualifications
• Preakness Qualifications
• Belmont Stakes Qualifications

The Preakness Stakes is the third leg of the 2020 Triple Crown after being rescheduled to Saturday, Oct. 3. Tiz the Law won the Belmont Stakes on June 20 and he finished runner-up in the Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5. However, Tiz the Law will skip the Preakness and run next in the Breeders’ Cup Classic Nov. 7 at Keeneland. The Preakness Stakes draw was completed Sept. 28 and Kentucky Derby winner Authentic was made the 9/5 morning line favorite with Art Collector (5/2) the second choice.

In another change to Triple Crown races, the Preakness Stakes joins the Belmont Stakes as a “Win and You’re In” qualifying race to the Nov. 7 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland.

Trainer Bob Baffert is the leading trainer in Triple Crown history with 16 victories after winning his record-tying sixth Kentucky Derby with Authentic. He is tied for the most wins in the Preakness with seven victories and his last two winners won the Triple Crown – Justify (2018) and American Pharoah (2015).

Best Preakness betting sites 2021

Preakness Stakes post positions and odds

Where to bet the Preakness Stakes and race schedule

The 145th Preakness Stakes is set for Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020. Here is more information and tips on betting the Preakness Stakes, and how you can watch and wager on this year’s event.

• Date: Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020
• Time: 5:30 p.m. ET
• TV: NBC
• Tablet, Online, Mobile: NBC Sports App and streamed live on NBCsports.com/live and fuboTV
• Track & Location: Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland
• Distance: 1 3/16 miles (9 furlongs) – since 1925
• Surface: Dirt
• Horses: 3-Year-Old Thoroughbreds
• Track Record: Secretariat (1:53.00 in 1973)
• Largest Margin of Victory: Smarty Jones (11 lengths in 2004)

The Preakness post-position draw is Monday, Sept. 28, and Preakness oddsmaker Keith Fuestle will set the odds immediately after the draw. The field is limited to a maximum of 14 starters, but the only years the Preakness starting gate was filled to capacity were 2011, 2005, and 1992.

Fans can wager legally at racetracks, simulcast centers such as Off Track Betting (OTB) Centers, and on advanced deposit wagering platforms such as TVG, BetAmerica and TwinSpires, where bettors in 31 states can legally bet on horse races from their mobile devices and web browsers. You can also wager on horse racing legally in the state of Nevada at the hundreds of casinos with race and sportsbooks.

Horse racing wagers and bets

In addition to the traditional “straight” wagers (Win, Place, Show), fans can also attempt to cash big in the various “exotic” pools. Exacta (top two finishers), Trifecta (top three), Superfecta (top four), and Super High Five (top five) wagering are all offered, and cashing a ticket in any of these pools can produce a bigger payday.

• Win: Bet on the horse you think you will win the Kentucky Derby.
• Place: Get paid the place price if your horse finishes first or second.
• Show: A show bet pays the least, but you win and get paid the show price if your horse finishes first, second or third.
• Exacta: Predict the first two horses in the correct order.
• Trifecta: Predict the first three horses in the correct order.
• Superfecta: Predict the first four horses in the correct order.
• Super High Five: Predict the first five horses in the correct order.

The Preakness Stakes betting odds are finally determined by the pari-mutuel system at the track which means your potential payout depends on how much money is in the pot overall, divided by how many bets are placed. The odds will fluctuate in the build-up to the race and never more so than in the final few moments before post time.

Picking a Preakness winner

There are many ways to handicap a horse race, and there is no shortage of opinions or angles when it comes to the handicapping the Preakness Stakes following the Kentucky Derby results. From a beginner’s betting guide to the most sophisticated tools for informed handicappers, there are many pieces of information and betting guides to assist you in identifying a potential Preakness winner and narrowing the list of top contenders.

• Handicapping horses and the races takes much time, research and intuition. Beyond studying past performance charts and horse stats, speed figures, class ratings, tracks and bias, jockey and trainer stats, horse pedigree and even post position (Preakness draw is Wednesday, Sept. 30), a handicapper has to have insight and ability to find various ways to identify horses that are ready to win. That’s especially true in a ‘normal’ year for the Derby horses that are running in the Preakness with just a two-week recovery. But the 2020 races are four weeks apart. You can review race videos, tracks, surfaces or find horses that had troubled trips in recent races. But it’s important to distill information that can help you identify horses that may offer some value next time out or others in good form or improving that can provide value wagering opportunities.
• Races and horses should be backed based on positive attributes and not as a result of who’s the best of the worst. As you study some of the betting guides and training tools, you’ll become better prepared and equipped to analyze races in a more meaningful way. That includes the Preakness Stakes along with the Kentucky Derby and the prep races leading up to the Derby. Understanding ‘how’ a horse has run leading up to a race versus the far less important ‘where’ the horse finishes and ‘what’ time he/she completed their recent races will help you become more proficient.
• Trainer Bob Baffert has won the Preakness a record-tying 7 times (D. Wayne Lucas) including in 2015 with American Pharoah and 2018 with Justify, who both went on to win the Triple Crown. Baffert is the trainer for both Authentic and Thousand Words in the 2020 race Preakness.

These sections below will be updated with additional horses and information as more runners are confirmed for the Preakness Stakes.

Front runners and “need the lead”

The pace often makes the race, and the Preakness will be no different. The horses that “need the lead” or will be forwardly placed and pressing the pace include two leading contenders and favorites Authentic and Art Collector. They will be joined up front by filly Swiss Skydiver.

Stalkers ready to pounce

With Tiz the Law opting to not run in the Preakness, there is one less top contender looking to stalk and pounce. Ny Traffic may make up more ground as he did when closing in on Authentic in the Haskell before losing by a nose.

Preakness Stakes Qualifications

Value Horses

Thousand Words and NyTraffic going off at higher odds provides some horses with some value below the top tier runners. Art Collector moves up as the second choice with Tiz the Law out, but sharp horse players believe he’s a real shooter after missing the Kentucky Derby. Trainer Bob Baffert is going for his record eighth Preakness win and will have two chances with Authentic and Thousand Words both leading contenders.

Last year, War of Will was identified on these pages as a value horse and he pulled the upset and won at 6/1 odds.

The Preakness has been dominated in recent years by horses who set or press/stalk the pace, but most of the time those were simply the best horses like Justify, American Pharoah, California Chrome, Big Brown and the filly Rachel Alexandra. Exaggerator was able to come from well off a hotly-contested pace to win the 2016 Preakness. An improving 3-year-old or fresher and talented colt like Art Collector or Thousand Words may be able to pull another upset, but not at odds like Clould Computing (13/1) in 2017 or Oxbow (15/1) in 2013.

Preakness Stakes history and results

The Preakness Stakes has maintained its status as one of the preeminent horse
races in the entire sport through many ups and downs in its history, which now
spans over 140 years. Held in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore,
Maryland, the Preakness annually stands behind only the Kentucky Derby in terms
of most-attended races in America. Part of the lure is that the race is included
as the middle gem in horse racing’s Triple Crown.

What that means is that all eyes are on the Preakness to see if the winner of
the Kentucky Derby, which is held two weeks before it, can come back and win
again to get the first two legs of the Triple Crown. When that happens,
attention becomes intense on the Belmont Stakes, the final race in the trio.
There have been thirteen occasions when the Derby winner followed it up with a
win in the Preakness and then sealed the deal with a victory in the Belmont,
with Justify managing the feat in 2018.

Over the years, the Preakness has been interrupted on a few occasions and
even left the state of Maryland on several occasions. In recent years, the
monetary struggles of Pimlico and Maryland Thoroughbred racing in general have
cast doubts on whether the race can continue indefinitely in its current
location. Yet each year, the thousands that gather at the track for the
Preakness are treated to a party atmosphere and usually get to enjoy a
thrilling, important race.

The History of the Preakness Stakes

The Preakness Stakes actually predates the Kentucky Derby by a few years,
making it the oldest of the three Triple Crown races. It was first contested in
1873 and was named after a horse that had won at Pimlico three years before.
Survivor won the first-ever running in a romp.

The race started to bounce around a few decades later. It was held in 1890 in
at a race track in the Bronx, NY, and then wasn’t held at all for three years
after that. Its home for the years from 1894 to 1908 was a track on Coney Island
in New York named Gravesend Race Track.

Despite all of the comings and goings, the track still held its allure for
the top three-year-olds in the country thanks to its solid purse structure. When
the race returned to Pimlico in 1909, it quickly started to settle in as a major
cultural event in the Baltimore area.

What really cinched Pimlico as a horse race of undeniable stature was when
the concept of the Triple Crown first came into the public consciousness. Even
though a horse named Sir Barton won all three races in 1919, the public didn’t
really recognize the significance of the feat. That would finally come in the
1930s when a pair of horses managed to win all three races and the term “Triple
Crown” was first used by sportscasters to describe the accomplishment.

Characteristics of the Preakness

The Preakness Stakes might be one of the three races included in the Triple
Crown, but it stands apart from the other two for a number of reasons. One of
those is the date on which it is held. Although the date often changed in its
early years, the Preakness has been held throughout the modern era on the third
Saturday in May.

That puts it two weeks after the Kentucky Derby, which means that
three-year-olds wanting to compete in both races will have to tighten their
schedule much more than usual. Thoroughbreds in the modern age often go a month
or more between races. To compete in both the Derby and the Preakness, horses
have to manage the long distance of the Derby and come right back and race two
weeks later.

For that reason, some of the horses who compete at Churchill Downs in the
Derby and don’t finish well don’t come back for the Preakness. As a result, the
Preakness draws much smaller fields, and the results are much closer to form.
There have been far fewer long-shot winners in the Preakness than in either of
the other two Triple Crown races.

Another unique factor attached to the Preakness is the distance. Since 1925,
horses have had to traverse 1 3/16 miles to win the race. That is the shortest
distance of the three races in the Triple Crown. The Derby is 1 ¼ miles, while
the Belmont comes in at 1 ½ miles.

The differing distances and the short period of time between races (the
Belmont is just three weeks after the Preakness) are part of what makes winning
the Triple Crown so difficult. As far as the distance for the Preakness Stakes,
the race sets up better for horses who live to leave the gate quickly and hustle
to the front end. Closers often find that they aren’t able to run down the
leaders in time with the shorter distance.

Great Preakness Champions

As might be expected, the 13 Triple Crown winners stand tall among those who
have won the Preakness in the memories of racing fans. And among those, none was
as memorable as Secretariat. The
famous colt managed to win the Preakness in 1973 in a record time for the race
at the 1 3/16-mile distance, tripping the timer in 1 minute and 53 seconds.

Several of the other Triple Crown winners have made lasting impressions on
the third Saturday in May at Pimlico. The 1940s were a heyday for those standout
horses, with four Triple Crown champs coming up big in the Preakness. In more
recent times, American Pharoah dominated the Preakness in 2015 on his way to
becoming the first Triple Crown champion in 37 years.

But there have also been legendary horses who did not win the Triple Crown
and still were heroes to the Pimlico faithful for their efforts in the
Preakness. Perhaps the most monumental of those was Man o’ War. As part of a
career in which he lost only once in 21 career races, Man o’ War captured the
1920 Preakness Stakes. He did not have the chance to win the Triple Crown
because his handlers decided not to enter him in the Kentucky Derby.

In 1955, Nashua lost to Swaps in the Kentucky Derby, but then won the
Preakness in a time that stood as the race record for 16 years; he would go on
to beat Swaps in a famous match race. Spectacular Bid had bad luck on and off
the track that cost him a chance at the Triple Crown in the 1979 Belmont Stakes.
But he was brilliant in the Preakness, dominating the field for a romping
victory.

In recent years, Smarty Jones overwhelmed the Preakness Stakes competition in
2004 by 11 ½ lengths, the widest margin in race history. And in 2009, Rachel
Alexandra became the fifth filly in history to beat the boys and win the race.

Recent Winners

Preakness Traditions

As might be expected for a race that has been around for so long, there are
many traditions attached to the Preakness Stakes. Many have been in existence
for nearly as long as the race has been run. Chief among these is the fact that
a garland of black-eyed Susans is typically laid across the winner at the end of
the race.

The Black-Eyed Susan, a vodka and gin concoction, is also the official drink
of the Preakness Stakes. Prior to the race, the crowd sings along to a marching
band’s rendition of “Maryland, My Maryland” in honor of the location. The winner
is also awarded the Woodlawn Vase as the trophy, while the painting of a famed
weather vane on top of the clubhouse with the winning colors is also part of the
festivities.

Speaking of festivities, the Preakness also cultivates more of a party vibe
than some of the other big horse races on the yearly schedule. In particular,
the general admission spots in the infield draw a crowd looking to enjoy
themselves in any manner possible. In the last decade or so, Pimlico has made an
effort to turn the infield activities into an event on its own by inviting top
musicians to perform leading up to the race.

How to Bet on the Preakness Stakes

If you happen to live near the Baltimore area, you can perhaps visit the
track and make a wager on the race in person. Short of that, you can also find a
simulcast area that will oblige. These areas allow for remote betting on horse
racing events and can generally be found either at your local track or an
off-track wagering facility.

In addition, modern horse racing fans also have the luxury of betting on all
races through websites that cater to their needs. Many of these sites are
associated specifically with the Preakness, including TwinSpires.com, also the
main site for Kentucky Derby wagering.

When you go to wager online for the Preakness Stakes or any other race, it is
always a good idea to make sure the site that you choose is just right for you.
You should make sure that the site is easily navigated and that you can withdraw
from or add to your account with ease. It might also be wise to ensure that
the gambling site
in question has some sort of official affiliation with or stamp of approval from
the horse racing industry.

As far as strategies for betting the Preakness Stakes, it is important to
remember the characteristics of the race that were mentioned above. You should
be looking for horses that are well-suited to the distance. That usually means
that they like to flash early speed and can carry that speed all the way to the
finish line.

Preakness Stakes Qualifications

You also have to decide which horses are able to come back from the Derby
strong after just two weeks off. The Triple Crown is so difficult to complete
because it’s a lot to ask of a horse to win three races in a five-week span at
demanding distances and against top competition. If you think a horse had a
particularly grueling journey in the Derby just two weeks earlier, it might be a
good idea to throw them out of your considerations for the Preakness.

In recent years, there have been many horses who, for whatever reason, decide
to skip the Kentucky Derby, even though they might have the qualifications to
compete. These horses might then be ready for the Preakness, meaning that they
would come in much fresher to face the Derby horses. If you can spot one of
these horses, you might be able to get a value play to include in your straight
(win, place, show) or exotic (exacta, trifecta, superfecta, Daily Double)
wagers.

Preakness Stakes Frequently Asked Questions

Who are the most successful jockeys in Preakness Stakes history?

The legendary Eddie Arcaro won the race six times in a span of just 17 years
in the 1940s and 1950s to lead all jockeys in Preakness history. More recently,
Gary Stevens, Kent Desormeaux, and Victor Espinoza have won it three times each
since 1997. Pat Day is the only jockey in history to win the race three years in
a row, a feat he accomplished from 1994 to 1996.

Who are the most successful trainers in Preakness Stakes history?

R. Wyndham Walden won the Preakness as a trainer seven times in the 19th
century, a feat that many people thought would never be equaled. But Bob Baffert
has managed to do just that. Starting with his first Preakness win in 1997 and
running through his victory with Justify in 2018, Baffert now has won the race
seven times as well. Considering that he is still at the top of the profession,
it wouldn’t be surprising if he broke the record in the coming years.

What race is the distaff counterpart to the Preakness Stakes?

Preakness Qualifications

The Black-Eyed Susan is a race held at Pimlico exclusively for three-year-old
fillies on the day before the Preakness Stakes. It is part of the Filly Triple
Crown.

Belmont Stakes Qualifications

Who is the longest shot to ever win the Preakness Stakes?

Master Derby, winner of the 1975 race, went off at odds of 23-1. He paid $48
for a $2 winning ticket.