2022 Preakness Stakes Prop Bets: Epicenter vs The Field

This weekend sees the 147th running of “The Run For The Black-Eyed Susans,” known more commonly of course as the Preakness Stakes. 

The Preakness, which is the second leg of the American Triple Crown, has lost some of its excitement as we won’t be seeing Rich Strike, the Sportsbook of the Kentucky Derby.

Sportsbook

However, we have nine Preakness Stakes contenders going to post at 7:01 p.m. ET on Saturday, with the Steve Asmussen-trained Epicenter as the chalk at around +100 in Preakness Stakes odds. In addition to the odds, take a look at our Preakness Stakes picks for this weekend.

The race certainly looks at the mercy of Epicenter but he is a short price on the boards.

Bet On The Preakness Stakes Here

So the question is how can we maybe find some better bets? And the answer is by using props. Let’s take a look at some of the props markets for Saturday.

Preakness Stakes Props: Straight Duel Matchups

A straight matchup prop is a simple bet to understand, where we are placing one horse against another and all we have to do is decide which one will have the better finishing position.

It does not matter where the two horses finish – you just have to choose which one will outdo the other in the race.

Let’s look at the top three matchups that can be found at Sportsbook.

In the first matchup, you can bet the whole field against the favorite Epicenter.

In the second matchup, you can back one of the two horses below. These are the second and third favorites for the race.

Sportsbook

In the third matchup, you can bet who will perform best among the long shots. Happy Jack is a strong favorite in this matchup and we think he’ll beat Fenwick.

Best Finishing Position Matchups

Best Horse Racing Betting Sites

In this matchup bet, you have a choice between three runners, making it much more difficult, but with Epicenter a strong favorite, this may be a market for the serious horseplayers among you.

We think Secret Oath (+155) could be the Sportsbook here as her stalking style should give her a tactical advantage against the speedsters.

Winning Starting Gate Props

We only have nine runners going to the post and the favorite is drawn in gate No. 8. So the split on this prop is 1-7 vs 8&9.

Preakness Stakes Prop Bets: Winning Margin 

This is a really popular bet for players who like to play in the props market. The racebooks will offer odds on OVER/UNDER the margin of victory for the winning horse.

This year’s race could be won easily by Epicenter, but if the favorite fails to bring his A game, then it could be a very tight finish.

To Finish In The First Three Places

This is a market where you are not placing a standard win, place or show wager. You just need to pick out a horse and they must finish in the first three.

Here are some of the odds available:

See Our Best Racebooks

Preakness Props: To Finish Last

Now, this can be an interesting market and one where there might be some value. Of course, the betting says that the 50/1 long shot Fenwick should finish last but we don’t think that will happen.

Having watched all of the trials, there are a couple of horses that may be worth backing to finish last.

The first is Skippylongstocking. This colt likes to run up with the speed but against the likes of Epicenter and Early Voting, he could be cooked by the far turn, and +400 to finish last looks good value.

Sportsbook

The other one that could finish last is one of the more fancied horses, Simplification. Yes, he ran fourth in the Kentucky Derby but he has shown some inconsistency and he is +1000 to finish last.

You can see all of the “to finish last” odds below.

So if you fancy a real upset, you can back Epicenter to finish last at +5000 (50/1).