After the post draw on Tuesday, Medina Spirit emerged as the 9/5 favorite on the morning line for Saturday’s Preakness Stakes, set for Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course. Medina Spirit won the Kentucky Derby on May 1, although that outcome stands under question after the horse tested positive for 21 picograms of betamethasone. The split sample test awaits analysis, and if it comes back positive, Medina Spirit will become just the second Kentucky Derby winner ever (and the first since 1968) to lose the title because of banned substances. Medina Spirit’s trainer, Bob Baffert, has agreed to testing for both of his entrants in the Preakness ahead of Saturday’s race.
Let’s look at the updated Preakness Stakes betting odds for each of the entrants as well as our thoughts about the race.
Horse Racing News: Midweek Preakness Stakes Updates and Odds
| Post | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Early Odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ram | D. Wayne Lukas | R. Santana Jr | +3000 |
| 2 | Keepmeinmind | Robertino Diodoro | D. Cohen | +1500 |
| 3 | Medina Spirit | Bob Baffert | J. Velazquez | +180 |
| 4 | Crowded Trade | Chad Brown | J. Castellano | +1000 |
| 5 | Midnight Bourbon | Steve Asmussen | I. Ortiz Jr | +500 |
| 6 | Rombauer | Michael McCarthy | F. Prat | +1200 |
| 7 | France Go de Ina | Hideyuki Mori | J. Rosario | +2000 |
| 8 | Unbridled Honor | Todd Pletcher | L. Saez | +1500 |
| 9 | Risk Taking | Chad Brown | J. Ortiz | +1500 |
| 10 | Concert Tour | Bob Baffert | M. Smith | +250 |
Ram is a trainee of D. Wayne Lukas, who has produced five Preakness winners, with Oxbow the most recent back in 2013. Ram has won his last two races, a $50,000 maiden claiming race at Oaklawn Park and an allowance win at Churchill Downs doing a one-turn mile on the undercard for the Kentucky Derby. This is his first graded stakes race, so I wouldn’t be enticed by that high value, plus coming out of Post #1 is a tough draw.
Medina Spirit obviously enters under a cloud, but with the news that he was treated with Otomax, an antifungal ointment that includes betamethasone starting on April 3 for a case of dermatitis, it is possible that this news would keep Medina Spirit from being disqualified from the Preakness, even if the split sample test ends up leading to the loss of the Kentucky Derby title. Medina Spirit has never come in worse than second in six career races, and those runner-up results came when he did not jump out to an early lead.
Midnight Bourbon came in sixth at Churchill Downs, after getting bumped all the way back to 12th place in the early traffic. He likes to push the pace early and then ride to victory. Steve Asmussen has trained two Preakness winners, Curlin in 2007 and Rachel Alexandra in 2009. He’s an intriguing value option for the top of your wager card and should definitely feature in your exotics picks.
Crowded Trade has just three career starts: a maiden victory in his debut, a loss by a nose at the Gotham Stakes (Grade III) and a third place at the Wood Memorial (Grade II). His trainer has one Preakness win, in 2017 with Cloud Computing. He’s an interesting pick for the exotics, but it’s hard to see him moving past the top favorites here for an outright win.
Concert Tour finished third in the Arkansas Derby (Grade I) after having the lead in the stretch. That result prompted Baffert and the horse’s owners to pass on running in the Kentucky Derby. He had never lost a race prior to the Arkansas Derby, and he also likes to push the pace from the beginning.
Unbridled Honor broke his maiden in Tampa Bay and came in fourth at the Tampa Derby. His most recent result is a runner-up to King Fury in the Lexington Stakes (Grade III). That race came on April 10, so his race schedule is ideal for a peak result at Pimlico on Saturday.
Preakness Stakes Betting Odds
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