RacingBetter News
	Tuesday 4th May 2021

Preakness Stakes Betting Guide for Newbies

The biggest event of horse racing is the Triple Crown series. It's a competition involving three significant races: the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes.

When the Triple Crown series starts, there are usually many more horse enthusiasts and horse racing bettors watching the races since it's the peak of horse racing, after all.

The Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown series, is the shortest event among the three of them but still a considerable part of the series since it is the deciding factor for a horse to make it to the final part of the series. If you're planning to get on in action, there's no better time than doing it now.

If you're a beginner who just got caught up during the excitement, fear not, as we will be talking about how the Preakness Stakes work from a beginner's perspective.

Schedule

The Preakness Stakes is the second leg of the Triple Crown series. This is their most significant achievement for some horse owners and jockeys since the action is usually so intense in the Kentucky Derby. That said, when a horse wins the Preakness Stakes, it will go forward to the final leg of the series, which is the Belmont Stakes, where it will have a chance to be the overall champion of the Triple Crown.

Over the years, the exact date of the event changes, but it's usually around May; that is, if nothing happens, that can change the scheduling of the Triple Crown. The schedule of the Preakness Stakes is still around in the middle of May. 

Types of Bets

Just like any other horse racing event, there are two main categories of bets you can place in the Preakness Stakes, mainly straight wagers and exotic bets. Let's start with straight bets. Straight bets are straightforward, thus the name, and are simple enough that a beginner can learn it within a few minutes.

Most of the best in this category is picking the right horse to win. The most common bets in this category are place, show, and win bets. Of course, win bets are choosing a horse to win. Show bets are betting on a horse to win the top three, and place bets are picking a horse that wins in either first or second place.

You can also place a bet called "across the board," where you will pick a single horse to win in three bets altogether, namely win, place, and show bets. If the horse you picked wins the race, you will collect payouts on all three bets. If the horse won second, you will only get payouts from the place and show bets, and if it comes third, of course, you'll collect the payout from the show bet.

The next category is exotic bets. This category of bet is relatively more complicated than straight bets, but the payout is significantly huge. Two of the most popular bets in exotic betting are trifecta and exacta. The exacta bet requires you to pick two horses that will win both first and second in the correct order. The trifecta is pretty much the same but with three horses.

Many experts will recommend you to box both trifecta and exacta bets. When you box your exacta and trifecta wagers, it will greatly improve your chances of winning since the correct horses are more important than the order.

Where to Bet

You can pick three places to bet for the upcoming Preakness Stakes, and each of them has its own pros and cons. That aside, the first one you can do is to go to your local track. For big events, especially for the Triple Crown, they offer people a chance to bet on the event while also simulcasting it for the people to see. This is great if you can't go to the stadium to see the event itself.

Another place you can go to is Las Vegas. While the Triple Crown series is not as big as the Super Bowl and the NBA championship, there are still bookies who do coverage for the Triple Crown series to bet on and watch the event.

Or you could go for online horse racing betting. If you want to stay home and watch the event remotely, this is a great option. Most of the top online sportsbooks you can see online also do full coverage for the Triple Crown series and can even offer you some perks and bonuses if you bet on their platform. And the best of it is they’ll give the latest updates on preakness odds.

Final Thoughts

On the betting side of things, the Preakness stakes are just another big sporting event in horse racing, but it's one of the most popular events you should not miss for fans of the series. If you want to spice up your Preakness Stakes or the Triple Crown series a lot more, betting on it will surely make it more enjoyable.