2010 Preakness odds are on the board for the second of the three Triple Crown races. This year’s race is on Saturday, May 15th and is held as normal at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. Preakness Stakes betting has actually been in existence longer than Kentucky Derby betting. The field is smaller than in the Derby and that means fewer horses to consider.
2010 Preakness odds don’t have the big longshots that were on the board two weeks ago in the Derby. The field is much smaller and the favorite does well in this race. The Preakness actually was in existence two years before the Kentucky Derby in 1873. The Preakness was not run every year though so it is actually behind the Derby in terms of number of races run.
Preakness Stakes betting is different than Kentucky Derby betting and it is different than Belmont betting. The Derby has a ton of horses in the field while the Belmont has very few. The Preakness has more of a normal horse racing field. The Preakness is the shortest of the three Triple Crown races. The Derby is a long race for some horses while the Belmont is even worse as the distance is farther than the horses have ever run.
2010 Preakness odds will be more like the odds you would see in a regular race with 8-12 horses. The one thing about the Preakness is that the Kentucky Derby winner is almost always heavily favored. People want to see a Triple Crown and they are going to bet the Derby winner even if the horse doesn’t deserve the support. In the last few years the Derby winner has not done very well with only Big Brown winning in 2008. The Derby winner is almost always overvalued in the Preakness.
Things go in streaks though so it may not be long before the Derby winner starts winning the Preakness again. It wasn’t that long ago when Smarty Jones won as the favorite and the years previous had Funny Cide and War Emblem winning the Preakness. Even though the Derby winner hasn’t won as much lately, the favorite still has. Last year Rachel Alexandra was the favorite and she came through. In the past 10 years the favorite has won almost half the time and that is a higher percentage than normal for favorites in horse racing.