2024 Preakness Stakes Odds
| POST POSITION | HORSE | ODDS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mugatu | 17-1 |
| 2 | Uncle Heavy | 7-1 |
| 3 | Catching Freedom | 7-2 |
| 4 | Muth | Scratched |
| 5 | Mystik Dan | 3-1 |
| 6 | Seize the Grey | 8-1 |
| 7 | Just Steel | 9-1 |
| 8 | Tuscan Gold | 4-1 |
| 9 | Imagination | 4-1 |
Odds via TwinSpires as of Saturday, May 18 at 5 p.m. ET.
The 2024 Preakness Stakes odds are on the move on Saturday morning. After the Preakness favorite, Muth, was scratched earlier this week, Mystik Dan, this year's Kentucky Derby winner, became the betting favorite to win the 2024 Preakness Stakes.
As of this morning, though, Mystik Dan's odds have gotten slightly longer, as he has moved from 5-2 to 3-1 on Saturday. That's largely because the No. 8 horse, Tuscan Gold, is seeing a ton of betting action as we get closer to post time. Tuscan Gold was 8-1 on the morning line but has since moved to 4-1. Another horse that's seeing heavy action on Saturday is one of our favorite long shot bets, the No. 2 Uncle Heavy, who has gone all the way from 20-1 on the morning line to 7-1 currently.
Our horse racing experts, Sean Zerillo and Mike Conti, have lined up their 2024 Preakness Stakes best bets and expert picks for which horse will win, long shot bets, exactas, trifectas and superfectas for the 149th running of the Preakness.
Saturday's Preakness Stakes will start at 7:01 p.m. ET on NBC, which means the clock is ticking on placing your Preakness bets. So let's get to our 2024 Preakness Stakes preview.
For more on betting the horses on Saturday at Pimlico, check out 2024 Preakness Stakes Odds, Picks, Predictions for Saturday’s Races at Pimlico.
2024 Preakness Stakes Best Bets
Pick to Win: No. 8 Tuscan Gold
Long Shot Pick to Win: No. 2 Uncle Heavy
Exactas: 8 | 9 and 9 | 8
Trifecta: 8 | 9 | 2,3,5
Superfecta: 8 | 9 | 2,3,5 | 2,3,5
2024 Preakness Stakes Pick to Win
No. 8 Tuscan Gold
Conti: No. 8 Tuscan Gold is the least experienced horse in the race. He had a troubled trip in the Louisiana Derby, where he was four-wide going into the first turn, then started to make his move on the far turn, only to find himself surrounded by horses, forcing him to mildly check at the top of the stretch.
While he was able to regain his momentum and finish with interest, the closer already had gotten the jump on him (and, for what it's worth, one of those closers from that Louisiana Derby is in this race, the No. 3 Catching Freedom). But trainer Chad Brown has won the Preakness twice before in similar circumstances, with horses who could have been point towards the Kentucky Derby and instead took time off and prepped for the Preakness. And with that number eight post position in the Preakness, Tuscan Gold should be able to run a far cleaner race here.
With the scratch of Muth, I think Tuscan Gold will definitely come down some from the 8-1 on Saturday. But I think we probably will still get somewhere in the range of between 9-2 and 6-1 on this horse, and that's going to be our best bet.
2024 Preakness Stakes Long Shot to Win
No. 2 Uncle Heavy
Conti: The long shot in here that I like is the No. 2 Uncle Heavy. The horse would need to take a pretty big step forward from a Beyer speed figure perspective, but there are a couple of things that I like about the horse. Two of the horse's three lifetime wins were on an "off" track, including one that was rather muddy, and it appears that we're going to have rain on Saturday, which moves Uncle Heavy up for me.
The other aspect is the jockey, Irad Ortiz Jr., arguably the best jockey in North America, one of the top jockeys in the world. He doesn't get this call unless this is a horse who his trainer believes truly has a chance in here. So for those two reasons, he's going to be my long shot play.
2024 Preakness Stakes Exacta
No. 8 Tuscan Gold over No. 9 Imagination (8 | 9); No. 9 Imagination over No. 8 Tuscan Gold (9 | 8)
Zerillo: Instead of playing an exacta box with the No. 8 Tuscan Gold and No. 9 Imagination, I'm going to play two exactas: one with the eight over nine, the other the nine over eight. And I'll probably weight the tickets a little bit more heavily toward that cold eight-nine exacta with Tuscan Gold winning and Imagination finishing second.
I just want another ticket with Imagination beating Tuscan Gold, in the event that happens; I don't just want to weight it equally to the eight-nine ticket, though. So I'll probably weight it at half the wager as I would the eight-nine ticket.
2024 Preakness Stakes Trifecta
No. 8 Tuscan Gold over No. 9 Imagination over No. 2 Uncle Heavy, No. 3 Catching Freedom, and No. 5 Mystik Dan (8 | 9 | 2,3,5)
Conti: So, I really like Tuscan Gold on top and Imagination behind, like Sean. With Imagination, the horse has done virtually nothing wrong in his career: Bob Baffert trainee, six career starts, two wins, four lifetime seconds. And of those four seconds, three of them were by a neck. That just raises the question: Does the horse like to win when he's met eyeball to eyeball with another horse?
Which is why my trifecta will be built around my straight exacta of No. 8 Tuscan Gold over No. 9 Imagination, and then in the third place spot, I will include my long-shot play, which is No. 2 Uncle Heavy. I'll also include No. 3 Catching Freedom, and I will also be including the Kentucky Derby winner, No. 5 Mystik Dan.
2024 Preakness Stakes Superfecta
No. 8 Tuscan Gold over No. 9 Imagination over No. 2 Uncle Heavy, No. 3 Catching Freedom, and No. 5 Mystik Dan over No. 2 Uncle Heavy, No. 3 Catching Freedom, and No. 5 Mystik Dan (8 | 9 | 2,3,5 | 2,3,5)
Conti: If you're looking for a superfecta lottery ticket for Saturday — and it wouldn't be horse racing and the Triple Crown without one! — we can build off of our trifecta and play the same horses in the fourth spot that we are in the third spot.
I'll be playing this one alongside you all on Saturday, so, with apologies to Mystik Dan's Triple Crown aspirations, let's hope we can get lucky and cash the big one.
