Nine horses will enter starting gates at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday for the 2022 Preakness Stakes at 6:45 p.m. ET. With Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike absent from the 2022 Preakness Stakes field, all eyes will be on two 2022 Preakness Stakes horses who also made waves at Churchill Downs two weeks ago. Epicenter is the favorite in the 2022 Preakness Stakes odds at 6-5. He was the favorite in the Kentucky Derby and looked to have a win within reach before getting run down by the long shot. Kentucky Oaks winner Secret Oath, meanwhile, appears to be the top filly in her age group, and she’ll try to become the seventh filly to ever win the Preakness. She’s 9-2 in the latest Preakness 2022 odds, just behind Early Voting (7-2), who has never finished worse than second in his short career. With so much to consider while making your 2022 Preakness Stakes picks, a little expert help can go a long way.
Pimlico Race Course hosted the original Preakness Stakes in 1873, but the race left in 1889 and returned in 1908 after being run at Morris Park and Gravesend in New York. Secretariat set the record in 1973 on the 1 3/16-mile setup, running the race in 1:53.00. Filly Swiss Skydiver ran the second-fastest Preakness time in history with a 1:53.28 in 2020 while becoming just the sixth female horse in history to win the race. Citation in 1948 ran the slowest time ever recorded for a winner, running the circuit in 2:02.40 on his way to becoming the eighth horse in history to win the American Triple Crown.
Given all the history, there’s a method to picking which horses to focus on for exacta, trifecta and superfecta bets in a Preakness Stakes like this, and SportsLine expert Jody Demling knows what it is. He can help you make the best 2022 Preakness Stakes picks possible.
A fixture in the horse racing world who has been writing about, talking about and betting on races for years, Demling has been on-point with his horse racing bets. In fact, this is the same handicapper who has called the Preakness winner nine times in the last 17 years. In the 2020 Preakness Stakes, Demling nailed the Swiss Skydiver-Authentic exacta.
He hit the exacta in the Wood Memorial in April. Last year, he hit the exacta, trifecta and superfecta in the Belmont Stakes. He’s also hit the Derby-Oaks double at Churchill Downs 10 times in the last 14 years, including this year’s massive upset with Rich Strike. That means he held a ticket with the winners of both the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby all but four times in his last 14 tries.
In addition, at one point in 2020, he picked the winners of six straight races: the Saudi Cup, Gotham Stakes, Rebel Stakes, Louisiana Derby, Florida Derby and Belmont Stakes. Anyone who has followed him on these races is way up. Now, he’s sharing all of his 2022 Preakness Stakes bets here.
Top 2022 Preakness Stakes expert picks
Here’s a refresher on these types of bets from SportsLine’s Jody Demling:
Preakness Stakes Exacta: Pick the first- and second-place finishers in the correct order. A $1 exacta returned $49.30 at the 2021 Preakness Stakes with Rombauer and Midnight Bourbon.
Preakness Stakes Trifecta: Pick the first-, second- and third-place finishers in the correct order. A $1 trifecta returned $162.70 at the 2021 Preakness Stakes with Rombauer, Midnight Bourbon and Medina Spirit.
Preakness Stakes Superfecta: Pick the first-, second-, third- and fourth-place finishers in the correct order. A $1 superfecta returned a colossal $1,025.50 at the 2021 Preakness Stakes with Rombauer, Midnight Bourbon, Medina Spirit and Keepmeinmind.
While Demling has no quibbles with the favorite status of Epicenter (6-5) and Early Voting (7-2), he plans to hold tickets with Secret Oath (9-2) as well as four double-digit underdogs who could really spice up the payouts. You can see his picks here.
How to make 2022 Preakness Stakes bets
Demling has specific recommendations for exacta, trifecta and superfecta wagers so you can cover all your bases at the Preakness Stakes 2022. He’s sharing them over at SportsLine.
So which horses do you take? And in what combinations? Visit SportsLine to get Demling’s picks for exacta, trifecta and superfecta bets for the 2022 Preakness Stakes.
