Preakness Stakes 134 Betting - Preakness Entries

Pimlico Race Course - May 16, 2009

The Preakness has had some memorable horse race winners with great photo finishes. Who could ever forget horses like Northern Dancer, Secretariat, Seattle Slew, Affirmed, Tabasco Cat, or Smarty Jones.

Pimlico Race Course is a horse racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland, most famous for hosting the Preakness Stakes.

Pimlico officially opened in the fall of 1870, with the colt Preakness winning the first running of the Dinner Party Stakes. Three years later the horse would have the 1873 Preakness Stakes named in his honor. The track is also noted as the home for the match race in which Seabiscuit beat War Admiral in the second Pimlico Special, on November 1, 1938, before a crowd of 43,000. It is currently owned by Magna Entertainment Corp.

The Preakness Stakes is a classic 1 3/16 mile (1.91 km) thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds, held on the third Saturday in May of each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds (57 kg); fillies 121 lb (55 kg). Like its preceding Triple Crown race, the Preakness Stakes have been termed "The Run for the Black-Eyed Susans" because a horseshoe of black-eyed susans is traditionally placed around the winner's neck.

Preakness - What's In A Name?

It all started with the Minisi, a northern New Jersey tribe of Native Americans. They called their area Pra-qua-les, meaning quail woods. After a series of spellings the name eventually evolved into Preakness.

One of its variations was Preckiness, used by General George Washington to describe the area where his troops were quartered in the winter of 1776-77. Nearly a century later, Milton H. Sanford, a thoroughbred owner, became attracted to the name. He called his farms, one in New Jersey and another in Kentucky, Preakness.

His Jersey farm was located in the Indians' "quail woods." Today, there remains a Preakness, N.J. When he bought a yearling sired by Lexington and foaled by Bay Leaf from A. J. Alexander, he named the colt (bred in Kentucky at Woodburn Farm) Preakness, unaware that he was contributing to turf immortality. Preakness, the eighth foal of Bay Leaf, cost Sanford $2,000. It was Preakness who turned up as a 3-year-old for his debut in the Dinner Party Stakes at Pimlico's inaugural in 1870. He was derided as a "cart horse" for his ungainly appearance, but won that first stakes at Old Hilltop, which became a history-producing victory. In his triumph, Preakness was ridden by English jockey Billy Hayward, who supplied the name for one of Pimlico's present adjoining streets. It was the colt's only start in 1870 but he left a lasting impression at Pimlico. Three years later, the Maryland Jockey Club honored him by calling its newest stakes race "Preakness".

The Dinner Party Stakes eventually became the present-day Dixie Handicap. Preakness continued to race through his eight-year-old season in America. He won the Baltimore Cup, carrying 131 pounds at age eight and also finished in a deadhead with Springbok in the 1875 Saratoga Cup at 2-1/4 miles. Later that year, Sanford sent Preakness to England. He became one of the first American horses to be given genuine recognition by the British. Eventually the Duke of Hamilton purchased Preakness from Sanford for breeding.

2009 Preakness Stakes 134 Contenders

Horse Trainer Odds Jockey

Mine That Bird Bennie Woolley Jr. Live Odds Calvin Borel

Friesan Fire Larry Jones Live Odds Gabriel Saez

Musket Man Derek Ryan Live Odds Eibar Coa

Pioneer of the Nile Bob Baffert Live Odds Garrett Gomez

General Quarters Thomas R. McCarthy Live Odds Julien Leparoux

Papa Clem Gary Stute Live Odds Rafael Bejarano

Flying Private D. Wayne Lukas Live Odds Alan Garcia

Big Drama David Fawkes Live Odds John Velazquez

Luv Gov William Komlo Live Odds TBA

Take The Points Todd Pletcher Live Odds Edgar Prado

Terrain Albert Stall Jr. Live Odds TBA

Rachel Alexandra Steve Asmussen Live Odds Calvin Borel

Tone It Down D. Wayne Lukas Live Odds Kent Desormeaux

Preakness Stakes Purse Structure Result Purse of $1,000,000
Winner $620,000 (62%)
Second $200,000 (20%)
Third $100,000 (10%)
Forth $50,000 (5%)
Fifth $30,000 (3%)

Kent Desormeaux kept looking back, and no one was coming. Not even close, and once again it was Big Brown first and the rest nowhere. The Pimlico crowd of 112,222 roared, saluting greatness that is rarely seen.

It was hard to imagine that his Preakness triumph Saturday could be easier and more impressive than his Kentucky Derby runaway, but it was.

When Desormeaux turned the muscular bay colt loose leaving the far turn, the race was over instantly. Under a stranglehold through the final sixteenth of a mile, Big Brown cantered to a 51/4-length romp over 39-to-1 shot Macho Again, who beat 22-to-1 Icabad Crane by a half-length.

Big Brown's margin could have been 15, but his rider was saving him for a shot at the first Triple Crown sweep since Affirmed in 1978.

Preakness Past Winners

Year Winner Time
2007 Curlin 1:53.46
2006 Bernardini 1:54.65
2005 Afleet Alex 1:55.04
2004 Smarty Jones 1:55.59
2003 Funy Cide 1:55.61
2002 War Emblem 1:56.40
2001 Point Given 1:55.40
2000 Red Bullet 1:56.00
1999 Charismatic 1:55.20
1998 Real Quiet 1:54.80
1997 Silver Charm 1:54.40

Preakness Stakes Betting at Pimlico Race Track

The Preakness Stakes horse betting has been a part of the horse racing since, the gates opened for its first race, all the way back in the year 1873. Three-year-old thoroughbreds have been making the journey to Maryland for the Preakness Stakes on the third Saturday in May annually ever since Survivor won the pot in the first race. The Preakness Stakes has seen prize money skyrocket as fast as the attendance in recent years.

Come bet on the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico racetrack and watch your favorite horse win at the Preakness. The second of the prestigious Triple Crown races, the 133rd Preakness Stakes will continue its legacy as one of the word's finest horse races. But the early odds are hard to come by, so stop horsing around and get your Preakness stakes horse betting lines at Gamblers Palace Racebook.

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