2024 Preakness Stakes Betting In Maryland
The Preakness Stakes is part of horse racing’s fabled Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing, which has made 13 horses immortal. The Preakness is the second leg of the Triple Crown and is held every year on the third Saturday of May at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. The 2023 edition is coming up soon, as it will be held on Saturday, May 20.
As the Preakness is such an important race, it generates a lot of interest across the country and especially here in Maryland. It also generates a lot of betting action. Here’s what you need to know about betting on the Preakness in Maryland.
Best horse race betting apps in Maryland
How To Bet on the Preakness Stakes in Maryland
There are a few ways to bet on the Preakness in Maryland, as well as horse racing in general. The most obvious way to bet on the Preakness is at Pimlico itself. Bettors can make wagers with a live teller at a betting window.
If you can’t make it down to Pimlico, betting on a horse racing app is a convenient option, as you can place bets on your mobile or desktop device anywhere in the state.
One of the best options for betting on horse racing online FanDuel Racing. This is the first Triple Crown with FanDuel as an option for Maryland bettors.
New FanDuel Racing customers can get a $500 No Sweat First Win Bet. Those who already have a FanDuel Sportsbook account can use the same login and a shared wallet with FanDuel Racing.
Another way to bet is at an off-track betting facility or OTB. Here are the locations of off-track betting facilities in Maryland:
- Greenmount Station in Hampstead
- Jockey Bar and Grille in Boonsboro
- Hollywood Casino Perryville in Perryville
- Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore
- Long Shot’s in Frederick
- MGM National Harbor Casino in Oxon Hill
- Riverboat on the Potomac in Colonial Beach
- Timonium Fairgrounds in Lutherville
You can also use these betting options to wager on the two other Triple Crown races, the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, as well as other horse races.
2023 Preakness Stakes Results
National Treasure won the 148th running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, May 20. The horse went off at as second favorite at 5-2 odds. Chase the Chaos (10-1) was second, while Kentucky Derby winner Mage (7-5) was third.
Here are the full results of the race.
| Position | Horse | Win Payout | Place Payout | Show Payout |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | National Treasure | $7.80 | $4 | $2.60 |
| 2. | Blazing Sevens | $5 | $2.60 | |
| 3. | Mage | $2.40 | ||
| 4. | Red Route One | |||
| 5. | Chase the Chaos | |||
| 6. | Perform | |||
| 7. | Coffeewithchris | |||
| Scratch |
Types of Horse Race Bets
There are two main types of horse race bets, which are straight bets and exotic bets. Let’s look at these in more detail.
Straight Bets
A straight bet is a bet on a single horse. The most straightforward bet is the “win” bet in which you are picking the winner of the race. The “place” bet is for the horse to finish in the top two (i.e. win or finish second). And the “show” bet is for the horse to finish in the top three (i.e. win, finish second, or finish third).
These bets can be combined. For example, you can bet on a horse to win, place, and show. If the horse wins the race, then all three of your bets win. You can also bet on the horse to both win and place or to place and show.
Exotic Bets
An exotic bet is a bet on multiple horses in the same race or a bet on the winners of multiple races. This is a little more complicated than the straight bets, so let’s look at the specific exotic bets:
- Exacta: An exacta is a bet on the winner and the runner-up of the race in the exact order that they finish.
- Trifecta: A trifecta is a bet on the winner, the runner-up, and the third-place finisher in the exact order that they finish.
- Superfecta: A superfecta is a bet on the winner, the runner-up, the third-place finisher, and the fourth-place finisher in the exact order that they finish.
- Pick 3: A pick 3 bet is one in which you pick the winner of three consecutive races. This type of bet can also be made with other numbers (e.g. 2, 4, 5).
Exotic bets in horse racing are similar to parlays in other sports betting. Like a parlay, all aspects of the exotic bet must be correct to win. If even one is incorrect, the entire bet loses. But like parlay bets, exotic bets offer much higher potential payouts if successful. For example, let’s take a look at the payouts for the 2022 Preakness Stakes. The race was won by Early Voting, with Epicenter placing and Creative Minister showing.
- $1 bet on Early Voting to win: $13.40
- $1 bet on Epicenter to place: $2.80
- $1 bet on Creative Minister to show: $4.20
- $1 trifecta: $66.50
As you can see, if you made three separate straight bets on Early Voting to win, Epicenter to place, and Creative Minister to show, that would pay a total of $20.40. If you made a trifecta bet with those specific horses in that specific order instead, it would pay over three times as much at $66.50.
That’s the upside to exotics. The downside is that if a different horse finished in third place, for example, the trifecta would lose, while the successful win and place bets would still pay.
You also have some options to mitigate the risk of exotics, but they come at a cost. For example, you can “box” an exacta or a trifecta so that it doesn’t matter what order your selected horses finish in, as long as you get the right horses in some order.
An exacta box is also known as a quinella. The good news is that if you have the top two horses correct, they can finish in either order, and the bet still wins. The downside is that because you’re getting more protection, it costs more.
Since there are two possible outcomes with an exacta box, the bet will cost twice as much. This effect is even more pronounced with a trifecta box and especially with a superfecta box. There are six different combinations for a trifecta box, so the bet will cost six times as much. And for a superfecta box, there are 24 combinations, so a $1 superfecta bet will cost $24 if it is boxed.
Another option is the “key” bet, in which you pick a particular horse to finish first, and other horses can finish in the other positions. There is also the “wheel” bet, in which you may pick the entire field to finish in a specific position (e.g. third).
For more information about various bet types and tips on betting, please see our guide to horse betting in Maryland.
Pari-mutuel vs. Fixed-odds Wagering
If you are unfamiliar with betting on horse racing, it’s important to know that it uses a different odds system than sports like football and basketball. In those sports, you get the payout of a winning wager at the odds at the time of the bet. For example, UConn was around +1600 before the 2023 NCAA Tournament started. By the time of the Final Four, UConn was a -130 favorite. If you made the bet at +1600, you would still win $1600 despite the dramatic shift of the odds in UConn’s favor.
Pari-mutuel odds are different in that the payout will be based on the odds at the time of the race rather than when the bet was initially made as in fixed-odds wagering. So if you bet on a horse at 8-to-1, and the odds move to 2-to-1 at the time of the race, you would get the payout at 2-to-1 rather than 8-to-1.
Pimlico Race Course and Preakness Stakes History
Pimlico’s history dates back over 150 years, as it opened on October 25, 1870. A colt named Preakness won the first Dinner Party Stakes, another race that is held annually at Pimlico to this day. Preakness became the namesake for one of the most important events in thoroughbred racing, the Preakness Stakes, which began in 1873.
The first winner of the Preakness was Survivor, which won by 10 lengths, a record that stood for over 130 years until Smarty Jones won in 2004 by 11 ½ lengths. In the ensuing years, the Preakness varied in length, format, and even location. It settled in its traditional location at Pimlico in 1909 and its traditional length of 1 3⁄16 miles in 1925.
Since 1932, the order of the Triple Crown races has been set, with the Kentucky Derby held first, the Preakness Stakes second, and the Belmont Stakes third. The Preakness is held on the third Saturday of May, which is also Armed Forces Day. The Preakness is two weeks after the Kentucky Derby and three weeks before the Belmont Stakes.
The Preakness generates a lot of interest among media, fans, and bettors. It typically is second only to the Kentucky Derby in terms of interest. This is in large part due to the fact that the Preakness usually includes the Kentucky Derby winner, so many want to see if that horse has what it takes to potentially win the Triple Crown.
The Preakness also attracts more spectators than any American horse race except the Kentucky Derby, as Pimlico has a capacity of over 120,000. The 2015 Preakness set the attendance record for the race, as 131,680 spectators watched American Pharoah defeat the rest of the field in the slop at Pimlico en route to ending a 37-year Triple Crown drought with a win at the Belmont Stakes three weeks later.
Preakness Stakes Purse and Payouts for Top Finishers
The purse for the Preakness is $1.5 million. Of that, 60 percent ($900,000) goes to the winner. Here is a breakdown of the amounts that the top five finishers receive:
- 1st Place – $900,000
- 2nd Place – $300,000
- 3rd Place – $165,000
- 4th Place – $90,000
- 5th Place – $45,000
Recent Preakness Winners
Here are the 10 most recent winners of the Preakness and their times. Triple Crown winners are in bold.
- 2022: Early Voting, 1:54.54
- 2021: Rombauer, 1:53.62
- 2020: Swiss Skydiver, 1:53:28
- 2019: War of Will, 1:54:34
- 2018: Justify, 1:55:93
- 2017: Cloud Computing, 1:55:98
- 2016: Exaggerator, 1:58:31
- 2015: American Pharoah, 1:58:46
- 2014: California Chrome, 1:54:84
- 2013: Oxbow, 1:57:54
Preakness Stakes FAQ
When is the Preakness Stakes?
The Preakness is held every year on the third Saturday of May, which is two weeks after the Kentucky Derby and three weeks prior to the Belmont Stakes. The 2023 Preakness will be held on May 20 with the post time scheduled for 6:50 p.m. ET on NBC.
How long is the Preakness Stakes?
The Preakness is the shortest of the Triple Crown races, held at a length of 9.5 furlongs or 1 3⁄16 miles.
Which horse ran the fastest time in Preakness Stakes history?
The legendary Secretariat holds the record for the fastest time ever run in the Preakness at 1:53. Secretariat also holds the records in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.
How much is the Preakness Stakes purse?
The purse for the Preakness is typically $1.5 million, of which 60 percent ($900,000) goes to the winning horse. The 2022 Preakness had the highest purse in its history, as an additional $150,000 entry fee was paid to bring the purse to $1.65 million.
How many Kentucky Derby winners have won the Preakness Stakes?
In addition to the 13 Triple Crown winners, 23 other horses have won both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, bringing the total to 36. The last horses to win the Triple Crown were Justify in 2018 and American Pharoah in 2015. The last horse to win both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness but fail to win the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown was California Chrome in 2014.