Kentucky Derby winner Justify is the odds-on favorite to win the Preakness Stakes on Saturday on NBC. Justify is not going to be facing a lot of horses on Saturday in the second leg of the Triple Crown, as just seven challengers will go against him, the smallest Preakness field since 2015. Most of the seven are not given much of a chance as only Good Magic is listed at single-digit odds at 3-1. All of the other horses are listed at double-digit odds. Let’s look at Saturday’s race and Preakness Stakes Picks.
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2018 Preakness Stakes Odds
PP Horse Trainer Jockey ML Odds
1 Quip Rodolphe Brisset Florent Geroux 12-1
2 Lone Sailor Tom Amoss Irad Ortiz Jr. 15-1
3 Sporting Chance D. Wayne Lukas Luis Contreras 30-1
4 Diamond King John Servis Javier Castellano 30-1
5 Good Magic Chad Brown Jose Ortiz 3-1
6 Tenfold Steve Asmussen Ricardo Santana 20-1
7 Justify Bob Baffert Mike Smith 1-2
8 Bravazo D. Wayne Lukas Luis Saez 20-1
Justify Heavily Favored
There is nothing to indicate that Justify won’t win the Preakness on Saturday. The horse has won all five of his races pretty easily including the Kentucky Derby. He broke a long drought by becoming the first horse since Apollo in 1882 to win the Derby without having raced at two-years old. He is trained by Bob Baffert who has six Preakness wins. All four of his previous Kentucky Derby winning horses went on to win the Preakness and American Pharoah won the Triple Crown in 2015. Justify is listed as the 1-2 morning line favorite.
The 143rd Preakness Stakes will take place on Saturday, May 19 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Rest
You can really put the other seven horses into this category. Good Magic is the second choice in the betting at odds of 3-1, but he couldn’t beat Justify in the Kentucky Derby and nothing has really changed since then. Realistically, all of the other seven horses are running for second place.
Good Magic is the second choice on the morning line and his trainer Chad Brown won the Preakness last year with Cloud Computing. Brown said Good Magic came out of the Derby in very good shape. “He’s doing far better than I expected exiting the Derby. It’s remarkable to see how well the horse is moving and his energy level. He already has his weight back. He just looks great. I’m excited about it.”
Bravazo finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby for trainer D. Wayne Lukas who has won the Preakness six times in his career. Bravazo is listed at odds of 20-1. Lukas will also send Sporting Chance who finished fourth in the Pat Day Mile on the Kentucky Derby undercard. Sporting Chance is listed as a 30-1 longshot. Lukas realizes that his chances on Saturday are not very good. “You hope you have the one. Sometimes you get lucky — Oxbow comes in here, nobody knew he was here,” Lukas said. “At this point in my career I’m realistic, too. When you’re 30, you think you’re going to beat everybody and then at 82 you think, ‘Maybe Justify’s a little tough.’ ”
Lone Sailor finished eighth in the Derby for trainer Tom Amoss and will get a new rider, as Irad Ortiz will take the mount. The horse is listed with odds of 15-1.
Quip finished second in the Arkansas Derby and is co-owned by two of the same owners that own Justify. He is listed at odds of 12-1. Tenfold is coming off a fifth place finish in the Arkansas Derby and is trained by Steve Asmussen who has two previous Preakness wins. His odds are 30-1. Diamond King is trained by John Servis who won the Preakness with Smarty Jones in 2004. Diamond King is listed with odds of 30-1.
Preakness Stakes Picks
I see no reason to go against Justify, so even at the low odds I will take him to win. I will also take a small flyer on Quip and put those two into an exacta box.
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