Kentucky Derby winner Authentic is the morning line favorite to win Saturday’s Preakness Stakes. The 2020 Preakness Stakes will not have a Triple Crown on the line and it won’t even be run in the usual Triple Crown order, as it is taking place as the last race and in the month of October. Because of the virus pandemic the Triple Crown schedule was changed and now the Preakness is on the first Saturday in October and getting very little attention with football, basketball and baseball all on the schedule. Regardless, it is still a big race and a good field will go to the post on Saturday afternoon on NBC. Let’s look at the race and Preakness Stakes picks.
145th Preakness Stakes Betting Odds
1. Excession – Sheldon Russell – Steve Asmussen (30-1)
2. Mr. Big News – Gabriel Saez – Bret Calhoun (12-1)
3. Art Collector – Brian Hernandez, Jr. – Tommy Drury (5-2)
4. Swiss Skydiver – Robby Albarado – Ken McPeek (6-1)
5. Thousand Words – Florent Geroux – Bob Baffert (6-1)
6. Jesus' Team – Jevian Toldeo – Jose D'Angelo (30-1)
7. Ny Traffic – Horacio Karamanos – Saffie Joseph, Jr. (15-1)
8. Max Player – Paco Lopez – Steve Asmussen (15-1)
9. Authentic – John Velazquez – Bob Baffert (9-5)
10. Pneumatic – Joe Bravo – Steve Asmussen (20-1)
11. Liveyourbeastlife – Trevor McCarthy – Jorge Abreu (30-1)
Favorites
Authentic won the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs as he took out Tiz the Law and ended any Triple Crown hopes for 2020. Authentic has early speed and that type of style usually does well in the Preakness. Can Authentic repeat that performance? There is no question that Authentic has the best Speed Figures and he should have the pace advantage, but I worry about Authentic repeating his Kentucky Derby performance.
Art Collector didn’t run in the Derby due to a minor foot issue but he is ready to go for the Preakness. He has looked really good in recent workouts and he is unbeaten in his races this year. Art Collector beat Swiss Skydiver in the Blue Grass Stakes and there is no reason to think he won’t run a big race on Saturday. Art Collector seems to be just slightly below Authentic but the situation might favor him a little bit.
Darkhorses
Swiss Skydiver is a filly running against the males. How does that usually go? She had.no answer for Authentic in the Blue Grass and it seems very unlikely she is now going to reverse that result in the Preakness. Thousand Words was scratched from the Derby after getting hurt in the paddock. The horse has talent, as he beat Honor A.P. at Del Mar, but he has run clunkers in the Travers and Oakland Stakes. Ny Traffic ran well against Authentic in the Haskell and the horse might be capable of another big race in the Preakness.
Longshots
Excession for trainer Steve Asmussen has done nothing to show he can compete in this race. Mr. Big News, Liveyourbeastlife and Max Players are closers and they almost never win the Preakness. Jesus’ Team doesn’t have the speed to compete in this race. If you are going to take a longshot then it has to be Pneumatic for trainer Steve Asmussen. The horse ran fourth in the Belmont after going wide on the turn and he looked good in winning the Pegasus Stakes.
Preakness Stakes Picks
There is not a lot of value on the two favorites and it is hard to know what will happen with Authentic and Art Collector. I lean a little bit to Art Collector but I am not confident enough to back the horse at odds of 5-2. If he drifts up to 4-1 or more then I would consider him. I think the best value is on Thousand Words at odds of 6-1 and I also think Pneumatic is worth a longshot play. I will take Thousand Words and Pneumatic with win plays and then I will look at some exotic tickets in terms of exactas and trifectas and box together Authentic, Art Collector, Thousand Words Ny Traffic and Pneumatic.
Horse Racing Betting Lines
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