Preakness Stakes Prop Bets are available for the 2021 race.
Horse Racing

2023 Preakness Stakes Prop Bets: Mage Favored For Triple Crown

If you are not familiar with “prop bets” and are asking yourself the question, what is a prop bet? Then you need to know they come in all shapes and sizes with some for the expert handicapper and some that are just for fun.

The great thing about prop bets is that they are simple Yes or No answers. You are betting on either scenario A happening or scenario B happening.

It simply means you are placing a wager on one of only two possible results or competitors.

To understand this concept more simply, consider a coin toss where you can bet on whether the quarter will be heads or tails.

But not all prop bets are offered even odds, like a coin toss, so let's take a look further at some of the prop bets you can expect to see next week before the day of the Preakness Stakes.

Preakness Stakes Prop Bets

Here are some possible Preakness Stakes Prop Bets that you could consider:

1. Winning Margin

You could bet on the winning horse's margin of victory, such as "Under 1 length" or "Over 1 length". Many sportsbooks will offer this type of prop bet for the Preakness Stakes

2. Winning Time

You could bet on the winning horse's finishing time, such as "Under 1:54.00" or "Over 1:54.00". The last four years have seen each of these hit twice.

3. Head-to-Head Matchups

You could bet on which horse will finish ahead of the other in a head-to-head matchup, such as "Horse A vs. Horse B".

This year we are likely to see the following matchups:

  • Mage vs First Mission
  • Disarm vs Blazing Sevens
  • National Treasure vs Red Route One

4. Jockey Props

You could bet on various jockey-related outcomes, such as Luiz Saez to win the Preakness Stakes and have more than one winner on Preakness Stakes Day?".

This will be a simple YES or NO prop bet.

5. Weather Props

You could bet on various weather-related outcomes, such as "Will rain occur before during, or within a certain period after the race?" or "Will the race be run on a fast or sloppy surface?".

6. Winning Horse's Saddlecloth Number

You could bet on the winning horse's saddlecloth number, such as an "Odd number" or "Even number".

Another bet could be on if the winner will be saddle cloth 1-5 or 6-10. This bet is usually based on the number of runners split in half

7. What will the highest finishing longshot be?

Here the sportsbooks will take the three biggest longshots and give odds on which one will gain the best finishing position.

8. Who will finish last?

So as an example, Mage is the favorite at 3/1 to finish first, so to finish last the sportsbooks might offer him at 50/1 to be last as it is very unlikely this will happen.

9. Will Mage win the Triple Crown?

Of course, Mage is the +300 (3/1) chalk for the Preakness Stakes and the sportsbooks on the East and West coast have him as a +600 (6/1) shot to win both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes to become the 14th winner of the Triple Crown.

Will Bob Baffert become the most winning trainer in Preakness Stakes history?

Baffert has one dart to throw at the Preakness Stakes this year with National Treasure and it is very possible he could win and bring up a record-breaking eighth win for his trainer in the Preakness Stakes.

As we get close to the race, we are sure to see some sportsbook put up odds on this prop bet.

Fun Preakness Stakes Prop Bets

We’ve explained some of the more standard prop bets above but the sportsbooks love to come up with some weird and wonderful ideas for prop bets and we have picked out our favorite one for this year's race

How many Black Eyed Susans will be drunk on Preakness Stakes Day?

The signature drink of the Preakness Stakes is the “Black Eyed Susan” named after the famous Maryland plant.

The drink is made in the modern style of a cocktail and features vodka and bourbon shaken with peach schnapps, orange juice, and sour mix. It's a nice fruity mix that is enjoyable any day of the year.

So we might see a prop bet that features the drink and if there will be over or under 50,000 drinks sold.

Final Thoughts

Prop bets are really good fun as they involve a quick answer to a yes or no question and are easier to understand for novice players.

Whatever bet you place on the big race, make sure to have fun and enjoy the big day on May 20th, 2023.

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