Preakness Stakes 2024: What You Need To Know Before You Bet It

After the top betting choice #4 Muth was scratched earlier this week with a fever, we are down to an eight-horse field for the Preakness Stakes 2024. Post time for the 149th running of the Preakness Stakes is 7:01 p.m. ET at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. The Preakness is the second leg of the Triple Crown run by three-year-olds on a one-and-three-sixteenth-mile dirt track for a $2 million purse. 

The 2024 Kentucky Derby winner, #5 Mystik Dan (8-5), replaces Muth as the top betting choice on the "Morning line" (ML) for the Preakness. Following Muth's scratch, Triple Crown-winning trainer, Bob Baffert, has only one horse in the Preakness, #9 Imagination (6-1). Baffert was suspended from the 150th Kentucky Derby for a third straight year but he won last year's Preakness with National Treasure. 

For a brief reminder of the basics of how to bet horse racing, check out my preview for the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby. Let's stop puttering at the gate, discuss this Preakness Stakes field, and make some bets. 

2024 Preakness Stakes Field, Post Position, Morning Line Odds 

1- Mugatu

• ML Odds: 20-1
• Record (Starts-Win-Place-Show): 12-1-1-3
• Trainer: Jeff Engler
• Jockey: Joe Bravo

It took this dude five races to break his maiden in his first and only win. Mugatu’s lone win was on a turf track and this is his longest race distance to date. He finished fifth in his only Graded Stakes race, the Bluegrass Stakes at Keeneland last month. Plus, the #1 horse was the lowest betting choice in the Bluegrass at 181-1. TOSS. 

2- Uncle Heavy

• ML Odds: 20-1
• Record: 5-3-0-0
• Trainer: Butch Reid Jr.
• Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.

Reid switches to one of the best jockeys in horse racing for the Preakness, Ortiz. Uncle Heavy ran a terrible race when stepping up in competition. He came in fifth in the Grade II Wood Memorial at Aqueduct April 6th. 

However, Uncle Heavy has won his only two races on a sloppy track and there’s roughly a 70% chance of rain Saturday, per Weather.com. I'll be using Uncle Heavy in my exotics, but I won't have a Win ticket on him. 

3- Catching Freedom

• ML Odds: 6-1
• Record: 6-3-0-1
• Trainer: Flavien Prat
• Jockey: Brad Cox

Catching Freedom trains for the second leg of the 2024 Triple Crown at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland.(Mitch Stringer-USA TODAY Sports)

I included Catching Freedom in my exotics for the Kentucky Derby where he finished fourth. He benefits from the shortened distance and smaller field. His 97 Beyer at Churchill Downs was tied for his fastest speed with his Grade II win at the Louisiana Derby in March. The Preakness is the same distance, one-and-three-16th miles, as the Louisiana. 

Catching Freedom is conditioned by one of the best in horse racing, Cox, who won back-to-back Eclipse Awards for best trainer from 2020-21. According to the Courier Journal, "It’s not like Brad Cox to run his Kentucky Derby horses back in the Preakness, so he must like what he’s seeing". For the record, this is my favorite horse in the Preakness. 

4- Muth 

SCRATCHED 

5- Mystik Dan

• ML Odds: 5-2
• Record: 7-3-1-1
• Trainer: Brian Hernandez Jr
• Jockey: Kenny McPeek

Like I said in my FOX Weather appearance previewing the Kentucky Derby, if there are rainy conditions Saturday, Mystik Dan is my favorite horse in the field.  Mystik Dan’s fastest race ever, and the fastest race of any horse running at the Preakness, was on a wet track. In February, the #5 horse ran a "101" Beyer in his Grade III Southwest Stakes eight-length win on a sloppy Oaklawn dirt track. 

It didn’t even rain for the Kentucky Derby, yet Mystik Dan won one of the most thrilling Run for the Roses ever in a much stronger field. Regardless, I won't be using the #5 horse because his price is too short. He was 18.6-1 for the Kentucky Derby and 5-2 on the ML for the Preakness. That's just too much line movement. 

6- Seize The Grey

• ML Odds: 15-1
• Record: 9-3-0-3
• Trainer: Wayne D. Lukas
• Jockey: Jaime Torres

Lukas is a six-time Preakness winner. Seize The Grey’s father, Arrogate, has seven wins in 11 career races, including four Grade I stakes races. He won his last race — Grade II Pay Day Mile — on Kentucky Derby Day two weeks ago. This Kentucky-bred colt hit the money in his two races on a sloppy track with one win. Between his pedigree and veteran trainer, I'm using Seize The Grey under.

Seize the Grey with Jaime Torres on the mount, wins the Pat Day Mile on 2024 Kentucky Derby day at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. (Horsephotos/Getty Images)

7- Just Steel

• ML Odds: 15-1
• Record: 12-2-4-1
• Trainer: Joel Rosario
• Jockey: Wayne D. Lukas

Son of the last Triple Crown winner in 2019, Justify, the #7 horse has Joel Rosario back in the saddle. Rosario was Just Steel’s jockey for his only two wins. He hit the money in his only two races on a wet track, one Place and one Show. He was good enough to make the Kentucky Derby but finished 17th out of the 20 horses in the field. I'm tossing Just Steel because his only two wins were on tracks less than a mile long. 

8- Tuscan Gold

• ML Odds: 8-1
• Record: 3-1-0-1
• Trainer: Chad Brown
• Jockey: Tyler Gaffalione

This is the wiseguy pick of a ton of horse racing insiders. Tuscan Gold has only three races under his belt. But, preparing a lightly run horse for a Preakness has previously been a successful strategy for Brown. He has a faster Beyer figure in all three of his races concurrently. 

Tuscan Gold ran a "95" Beyer in a Place-finish at the Louisiana, losing to Catching Freedom and Honor Marie, another Kentucky Derby horse. That said, I'll take a stand and toss the #8 horse. He is surrounded by horses with faster early speed and won't be able to make up the ground. 

9- Imagination

• ML Odds: 6-1
• Record: 6-2-4-0
• Trainer: Bob Baffert
• Jockey: Frankie Dettori

This California-based thoroughbred would've run in the Kentucky Derby if Baffert hadn't been suspended. Baffert has won the Preakness a record eight times. Imagination made the exacta in all six career races. This includes a Grade II San Felipe Stakes win in March at Santa Anita and second by a neck to Kentucky Derby horse, Stronghold, in the Grade I Santa Anita Stakes last month. 

Lastly, Imagination has three straight impressive works. A 12-second furlong is considered fast. The #9 horse ran a 1:11 six-furlong work May 10th, that same speed and distance six days prior, and a 59-second, four-furlong work at the end of April. Behind Catching Freedom, Imagination is my second favorite horse in the Preakness. 

Preakness Stakes 2024 Bet Slip on a $50 budget

• $0.50 Trifecta Box: 2-3-6-9 for a $12 bet
• $1 Exacta Box: 2-3-6-9 for a $12 bet
• $14 Win: #3 Catching Freedom
• $1 Trifecta Key: 3/ 2-6-9 for a $6 bet
• $1 Trifecta Key: 9/ 2-3-9 for a $6 bet

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