The 2019 Kentucky Derby will hereby be known as; The Most Exciting Twenty-Two Minutes In Sports.  Regardless of the controversy, the top three finishers in the KD will not be running in the Preakness Stakes.

This opens the door for several ‘New Shooters’ who did not compete in the Derby to try to
pull off that rare feat of Winning the Preakness Stakes without having run in the
Kentucky Derby.  In the last 25 years only four horses who didn’t compete in The Derby  have won the Preakness.

There will be four Kentucky Derby starters in this year’s Preakness and most noteworthy are the 2nd and 5th place finishers WAR OF WILL and IMPROBABLE.  Neither colt is by any means invincible in what is shaping up to be one of the most wide open and contentious Preakness fields in many, many years. A Win by any horse in this field (with the exception of a couple) would not shock.

The Daily Racing Blog will break it down like this:

The A Group from the KD contestants are #1 WAR OF WILL, and  #4 IMPROBABLE.  In the A Group from the ‘New Shooters’  will be #5 OWENDALE, and #7 ALWAYSMINING.

These will be the four horses we key on.  DRB believes that the #1 and #4 could go off as co-favorites, or be very close in the Win Pool wagering.

In our B Group we have #8 SIGNALMAN, #9 BODEXPRESS, #11 LAUGHING FOX, and #13 WIN WIN WIN.

The Bet:  A .50 cent Trifecta- #1-4-5-7 with #1-4-5-7 with #5-7-9-11-13.  Total cost $18

A dollar Exacta Box #1-4-5-7.  Cost $12

Two dollar Win bets on #2-3-5-7-13.  $10

Traditionally the Preakness does not have the life-altering pay day that the KD often serves up.  The field is smaller, therefore the horses run true to form, with better trips, and there are no flukes.  That said, if you like a horse to Win that we haven’t mentioned here, by all means Key that colt on top of our A and B Groups and hope for the best.

Best of luck no matter how you play it.