Preakness wagering is the second of three Triple Crown races held the third Saturday in May at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland Preakness wagering has been in existence even longer than the Kentucky Derby. Let’s consider some Preakness wagering information and some historical Preakness odds.
Preakness wagering actually began two years before the Kentucky Derby in 1873. Preakness wagering actually took a break for a few years so it is a year behind the Derby in actual races run even though it started first.
Preakness odds had only 7 horses in the first ever Preakness. The winner of that race was Survivor. It was not until 1919 though that a horse won the Derby, Preakness and Belmont when Sir Barton did it.
Preakness wagering is different than Kentucky Derby wagering and it is different than Belmont wagering. The Derby has a ton of horses while the Belmont has very few. The Preakness is kind of in between those two races. Preakness wagering will show that the race is the shortest of the three races. The Derby is a stretch for some horses while the Belmont is a distance that no horse has ever run or ever will again.
Preakness odds are more like the odds you would see in a regular race with 9 or 10 starters. The one difference in Preakness is that the Kentucky Derby winner is almost always heavily favored. Everyone wants to see a Triple Crown and that means the public will bet the Derby winner in Preakness. The horse is almost always overvalued on the Preakness odds board. That doesn’t mean the horse won’t win though.
The Derby winner in recent years has been not won in the past few years in Preakness , but it wasn’t that long ago when Smarty Jones won as the favorite and the years previous had Funny Cide and War Emblem winning. That would mean that in the 7 races this decade, the favorite has won three times in Preakness .
That is well ahead of the 33% average for the favorite.