2015 Preakness Stakes Betting
'The Run for the Roses' is the iconic tag line of the Kentucky Derby. Less well known is the Preakness Stakes sobriquet 'The Run for the Black-Eyed Susans'. The nickname might not be as familiar to horse betting fans but the race itself is second in popularity only to the Kentucky Derby. Held on the third Saturday in May at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course it is the second leg of horse racing's Triple Crown.
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BETTING THE PREAKNESS 2015
The Preakness Stakes is a Grade 1 stakes race for three year old colts, fillies and geldings run over a distance of a mile and 3/16 on the dirt track at Pimlico. That makes the distance a little bit shorter than the Kentucky Derby and it also has a smaller field. The Preakness is limited to 14 starters and there's a good chance for a full field this year-14 of the last 18 races have had a double digit sized field. The race field is usually comprised of horses that performed well in the Kentucky Derby and three year olds that for one reason or another weren't ready or didn't qualify for the Kentucky Derby.
NO CONCERN AT THE DISTANCE:
The Preakness Stakes is run over a distance of a mile and 3/16-slightly shorter than the Kentucky Derby distance and one that most three year olds will have little problem managing at this stage in their career. In fact, most of them will have had experience at this distance earlier in their prep campaign even if they didn't make the Kentucky Derby start. For that reason you won't need to concern yourself with endurance and stamina when placing your Preakness bets. Distance is a serious concern for the third leg of the Triple Crown-the Belmont-which is contested over a mile and a half. While the Belmont distance is such that early speed has a difficult time prevailing in the Triple Crown's final leg, a top level speedster can occasionally set a fast pace and win in the Preakness Stakes. In other words, a horse's stamina probably won't come in to play for Preakness Stakes betting.
THE TURNAROUND FROM THE KENTUCKY DERBY IS BRUTAL
While the distance in the Preakness won't be a concern the short lead time after the Kentucky Derby clearly is an issue. The turnaround from the Kentucky Derby to the Preakness is especially brutal, with only two weeks between races. The new Kentucky Derby qualification system is furthering a trend toward lighter racing schedules for younger horses which means they'll have had nothing in their career to prepare them for two highly competitive races in such a short stretch of time. Other than trying to decipher trainer comments about how their horses came out of the Derby and are training for the Preakness the only real method to evaluate how a horse will potentially handle the workload is pedigree. It's not a perfect metric to evaluate potential Preakness betting interests but it's really the only one at the handicapper's disposal.
INSIDE BIAS AT PIMLICO
One trend in Preakness Stakes betting that has stood the test of time is the superior performance of horses that draw one of the inside post positions. In theory, this is the case on every race track but for some reason-and that reason is the subject of much debate among horse racing enthusiasts-the outer post positions put horses at a significant disadvantage. Only one horse has been able to win from the outside pole (Rachel Alexandra in 2009) in 138 years of racing. It's not so much a case of 'it can't be done' as it is a disadvantage that takes a special horse to overcome and those types of horses are few and far between.
