|
 Preakness
Stakes Predictions
(2008)
Big
Brown wins!
That's our 2008
Preakness Stakes
Prediction here at
Gambling911.com.
Well,
if only it were that
easy. Big
Brown requires up to
a $4 bet just to win
$1 and he's the
horse that everyone
and their
grandmother is
backing Saturday.
So what about those
Preakness Stakes
predictions that
have other horses
winning, all of
which are double
digit underdogs as
of Thursday?
Bill
Christine of
Horseracing Insider
points out why the
odds favor a big
underdog winning
Saturday's Preakness:
Five of the last six
odds-on favorites in
the Preakness have
accounted for bags
and bags of paper
debris at old
Pimlico. Their names
are Linkage, Swale,
Easy Goer, Fusaichi
Pegasus and the
unfortunate Barbaro.
It's likely that
some of the tickets
on Barbaro wound up
in memory books
instead of the scrap
heap.
Then
again:
Odds-on choices
don't always lose at
Pimlico--Smarty
Jones was 7-10 when
he won--and Big
Brown isn't expected
to join Linkage and
the others when they
run the Preakness,
the middle jewel in
the Triple Crown,
for the 133rd time
time on Saturday.
The easy-does-it
Kentucky Derby
winner is running
off two weeks' rest
for the first time
in his brief career,
but there is nothing
in the stars over
Baltimore that
presages a meltdown.
"If he gets a clean
trip, I don't know
of anyone who can
run with him," said
Michael Iavarone,
one of the colt's
owners.
Truth
be told, the
competition for Big
Brown is pretty
rough for the 2008
Preakness. As
Christine points
out, a second choice
hasn't been 11-1 or
more in the
Preakness since Dark
Star, the Derby
winner, and Royal
Bay Gem both went
off at that number
in 1953. And
that's where we have
the next favorite
horse at many of the
race books.
Behindatthebar has
had his odds slashed
a bit pushing him
into the single
digits at places
like
betED.com
Only
one Preakness
hopeful, Gayego, has
returned from the
Derby to tackle Big
Brown again. The
other 11 did not
race in the Derby,
among them Kentucky
Bear, who finished
third in the Blue
Grass Stakes.
Kentucky Bear's
trainer, Reade
Baker, expressed
confidence in his
colt while saying on
ESPN Wednesday that
Big Brown "beat all
those horses at
Churchill Downs, but
he didn't beat us."
This might be what
the "new shooters"
are hoping for in
the Preakness: that
Big Brown is
regressing from that
huge effort nearly
two weeks ago, while
the new competitors
are progressing,
writes Maryjean Wall
of the Herald Leader.
Behindatthebar won
his last start, the
Lexington Stakes at
Keeneland, and
should be coming
into the Preakness
with his confidence
high.
 Besides
Kentucky Bear
(right) and
Behindatthebar,
three others are
coming into the
Preakness directly
out of Keeneland
races: Racecar
Rhapsody (fourth in
the Lexington),
Riley Tucker (third
in the Lexington),
and Stevil (fourth
in the Blue Grass
Stakes).
There
is some momentum
behind Kentucky
Bear,
a 12/1 long shot
at betED.
“The
horse is peaking at
the right time of
year,” said jockey
Jamie Theriot.
“Every owner,
trainer, and jockey
wants to be in the
Derby, but I think
missing the Derby
and giving him a
couple extra weeks
is really going to
help. He was kind of
green in the Blue
Grass, but he’s
really been learning
and getting better
since then.”
In
the end though, it's
difficult to imagine
any other horse
winning besides Big
Brown. Pundits
have past trends to
go by in hopes of
having a big pay day
with their own 2008
Preakness
predictions.
These
were your Preakness
Stakes 2008 Odds as
of Thursday May 15.
Big
Brown -400 - -
Behindatthebar +800
- -
Yankee Bravo +1500 -
-
Stevil +2800 - -
Kentucky Bear +1200
- -
Tres Borrachos +2800
- -
Hey Byrn +1500 - -
Icabad Crane +3000 -
-
Riley Tucker +3000 -
-
Giant Moon +2000 - -
Macho Again +1800 -
-
Racecar Rhapsody
+3000
----
Dan
Shapiro,
Gambling911.com
Originally published
May 15, 2008 9:57 am
EST
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