Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com
For the first time, the Preakness Stakes will be the final leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown as it will be run on Saturday from Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore with an 11-horse field. Usually, the Kentucky Derby is the first leg of the Triple Crown and held on the first Saturday of May. Then comes the Preakness two weeks later and the Belmont three weeks after that. The coronavirus completely shuffled the schedule in 2020.
Unfortunately, the 145th running the Preakness Stakes likely will not draw much attention from the casual bettor because it’s smack up against college football. There will be no Triple Crown winner this year, either.
Tiz the Law won the Belmont Stakes in June and was the heavy favorite to win the Kentucky Derby – in fact, the race’s biggest favorite in 31 years – in early September but finished second to Authentic. Tiz the Law will not run the Preakness and is being pointed next toward the Breeders’ Cup Classic in early November.
Authentic could make a case for three-year-old Horse of the Year with a win in the Preakness and is the +165 favorite from Post 9. Authentic pulled away from Tiz the Law down the stretch to win the Kentucky Derby by 1¼ lengths. It was the record-tying sixth Derby win for trainer Bob Baffert. He has won this race seven times, tied for the most with 1880s trainer R. Wyndham Walden. Baffert’s last Preakness winner was Justify in 2018, who would win the Triple Crown.
From Post 3, Art Collector is a +275 second-favorite for Saturday. Trained by Thomas Drury Jr., the colt didn’t run in either the Belmont Stakes or Kentucky Derby (planned to run there but was pulled out with a foot injury). Art Collector is unbeaten in two stakes races this year but has never run in a Grade I event.
Thousand Words (+800), Swiss Skydiver (+800) and Mr. Big News (+1400) round out the favorites. During the Kentucky Derby, Thousand Words, trained by Baffert, was scratched after misbehaving in the paddock. Mr. Big News, trained by W. Bret Calhoun, didn’t run the Belmont and was third in the Derby. Swiss Skydiver is a rare Filly to run a Triple Crown event.
The Preakness is 9.5 furlongs, or 1 3/16th miles long.
