Making Money Betting American Pharoah in the Preakness

Kentucky Derby winner American Pharoah will be a heavy favorite in Saturday's Preakness Stakes. (Photo by Eclipse Sportswire)
All eyes will be on 2015 Kentucky Derby winner American Pharoah on Saturday as he attempts to conquer the second jewel of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. American Pharoah and jockey Victor Espinoza have had five consecutive wins together since September of 2014, and at 4-5 odds on the morning line it seems the oddsmaker thinks the pair is likely to have their sixth.
There are a number of reasons why American Pharoah has a great chance of winning the Preakness Stakes.
Speed: American Pharoah is one of the fastest horses in the field in terms of Beyer Speed Figures, where his career high is 111. Pimlico's track is also known to be a bit faster than Churchill Downs. That combined with a potential for some precipitation, which American Pharoah showed he didn’t mind in the Arkansas Derby, may work to his advantage.
Distance: At a distance of 1 3/16 miles, the Preakness is the shortest of the Triple Crown races, 1/16 of a mile shorter than the Kentucky Derby. Having less ground to cover but keeping the same speed figures from Kentucky Derby could easily result in a win by an extra length.
Competition: With only eight entries, this is a significantly smaller field than the Derby or and most recent Preakness fields. Though American Pharoah drew the inside post, he has faced four of his competitors before and finished first.
With American Pharoah being such a heavy favorite, it can be challenging to find the right combination to make a winning ticket that provides a decent payout. For the Kentucky Derby I managed to cash on both the exacta and trifecta, so let’s try to do it again! Here are three ways that I would play American Pharoah in the Preakness Stakes using #2 Dortmund, #4 Danzig Moon, #7 Divining Rod, #8 Firing Line
$10 Exacta: 1 with 2,8 = $20
$5 Trifecta: 1,8 with 1,8 with 2,4 = $20
$1 Superfecta: 1,8 with 1,2,8 with 2,4 with 2,4,7 = $9
Best of luck!
$1.5-million Xpressbet.com Preakness StakesSaturday, Pimlico Race Course, Post time 6:18 p.m. ET1 3/16 miles, dirt, 3-year-oldsT.V.: NBC 4:30 p.m. ET

PP

Horse

Jockey

Trainer

Owner

M-L

1

American Pharoah

Victor Espinoza

Bob Baffert

Zayat Stables

4-5

2

Dortmund

Martin Garcia

Bob Baffert

Kaleem Shah

7-2

3

Mr. Z

Corey Nakatani

D. Wayne Lukas

Calumet Farm

20-1

4

Danzig Moon

Julien Leparoux

Mark Casse

John Oxley

15-1

5

Tale of Verve

Joel Rosario

Dallas Stewart

Charles Fipke

30-1

6

Bodhisattva

Trevor McCarthy

Jose Corrales

Jose Corrales

20-1

7

Divining Rod

Javier Castellano

Arnaud Delacour

Lael Stables

12-1

8

Firing Line

Gary Stevens

Simon Callaghan

Arnold Zetcher

4-1