Calvin Borel and Super Saver Favored in Preakness Betting

Much of the Preakness betting attention on Saturday will be on Kentucky Derby winner Super Saver and jockey Calvin Borel. The Derby winner is the 5-2 favorite in Preakness odds.  Borel won the Preakness last year aboard Rachel Alexandra but can he repeat the win this time on Super Saver in the 135th running of the Preakness Stakes that can be seen on NBC on Saturday afternoon?

Preakness betting numbers don’t necessarily point to Borel and Super Saver on Saturday.  Borel has been very good at Churchill Downs but he doesn’t really carry that success to other tracks.  Last year he won 23 percent of the time at Churchill and he has the same 23 percent percentage this year at the Kentucky track.  In his career he wins 15% of the time.  It is obvious that his numbers at Churchill are better.  Some tracks are better for Borel than others.

He wins only 9 percent of the time at Keeneland and just 8 percent at Saratoga. The key for Borel is that he is winning right now.  Before he rode Street Sense in 2007 he had never won the Kentucky Derby. Since that time Borel has become the go-to rider for trainers in Triple Crown races.

What about Pimlico for Borel?  Does he win at that track?  Borel really has not ridden very much at Pimlico. He has just 11 mounts with two wins including last year’s Preakness with Rachel Alexandra. He will be favored aboard Super Saver in Preakness betting simply because there is no other horse in the race that looks that great.  Lookin at Lucky is the second choice and the horse probably has more overall talent but he also has the tendency to get into racing trouble.  It will be interesting to see if that changes on Saturday with jockey Martin Garcia who is replacing Garrett Gomez.

Here is a look at the field in Preakness odds.