Recap of Our 2025 Preakness Stakes Picks & Results!
Congrats to Journalism in Winning the 150th Preakness Stakes!
What a way to close out Old Pimlico and 150th edition of the Preakness Stakes with a heart-stopping and exhilarating finish that will be one to remember for years to come!
All the excitment began at the 1/4 pole when Journalism (Even) was asked for his run but found himself with nowhere to go as Clever Again (5-1), who lead from the start, and Gosger (15-1) were head-to-head on the lead and Goal Oriented (8-1) with Prat up, seemed to want to keep Jounalism boxed in.
Jounalism was sandwiched in between Clever Again and Goal Oriented as Gosger was pulling away, then Rispoli saw a small gap open and he went for it as the three runners were bumping into each other hard as Journalism squeezed through!
All the while Gosger was increasing his lead by 5 lengths with a furlong to go and it looked like the best Journalism could do would be second place! But then he showed his grit and tenancity as the fast closing Sandman (6-1) had made up a ton of ground as those three were bunching up at the 3/16 pole and actually put his Nose in front of Journalism in the stretch but then he re-engaged with his best stride and somehow manged reel in Gosger in the closing yards to win by 1/2 length!
It was another 2 1/4 lengths back to Sandman in 3rd who finished 4 lengths in front Goal Oriented in 4th. The Euro import Heart of Honor (GB) ran a decent race finishing 5th 2 lengths behind Goal Orientedand is headed to the Belmont Stakes .
There was a stewards inquiry after the race regarding the bumping of the three runners but after a quick review they made no change to the order of finish.
A lot of people felt that Bob Baffert's Goal Oriented should have been taken down and placed last as it looked like he (Flavien Prat) was the cause of what could have been a disastrous outcome.
Journalism is the first Favorite to win since Justify in 2018 and the first losing KY Derby favorite to come back and win in the Preakness since Lookin At Lucky in 2010.
The time of the race was 1:55.47 for the 1 3/16 Miles on a Fast track.
Total wagering on the Preakness day card was $110 Million which was an increase of 11.3% over the previous year.
The day after the running of the 150th Preakness Stakes, the demolition of Old Hilltop and renovation of the track began. Next year the 2nd Leg of the Triple Crown series will be held at Laurel Park.
Next up is the final Leg of the Triple Crown with the Belmont Stakes being held for the second year at Saratoga while new construction and renovations of Belmont Park have been in process.
The Big Question is, will we get a Showdown of Journalism vs. Sovereignty?
In Our Preakness S. Picks:
We made River Thames (9-1) our Top pick as felt strongly that a "New-Shooter" would prevail over the favorite Journalism (Even) as they had won in the last (7) years and that favorites in the Preakness had not won in the past 6 years.
River Thames was our choice of the "New-Shooters" because he had skipped the KY Derby even though he had earned enough points to get in to the 1st Leg of the Triple Crown series but his trainer Todd Pletcher thought he needed more time. Also, River Thames had the Critical Raise A Native sire side pedigree line, as did Journalism!
In addition he had only been beaten by a Neck in the Fountain of Youth S. by the KY Derby winner Sovereignty and ran a very good 3rd last out in the Blue Grass S. only beaten 3/4 lengths. Also he had never been out of the Trifecta in 4 career races (4-2-1-1).
Everyone knew that Journalism was the horse to beat and if he did get beat he most likely would still hit the board and with 30 yards to go, it did look like he would get beat however his remarkable talent got him to the wire just in time!
Our wagering strategy in a (9) horses field is to use 1A, 2B, 3C runners with the A (River Thames) our top choice and the Bs most likely to complete the Exact and the C runners for the Trifecta and Superfecta slots.
We used Journalism and Clever Again as our Bs along with Sandman, Gosger and American Promise as the Cs and to use Heart of Honor (GB) and Goal Oriented as ones to use if there were any scratches.
River Thames had a slight bobble at the start but then placed himself in a stalking position behind the two pace setters all the way down the backside and entering the far turn where he was floated out four wide into the stretch and then weakened and fell back to finish 6th.
Our wagering strategy did cash in on the $33.80 Exacta.
Payouts were low with the favorite winning and the 3rd favorite running 3rd. They were the 4th lowest in the last 18 years!
In Our Full Card Picks:
Payoffs were on the low side with (6) winning fravorites along with (2) 2nd favorites winning. Average $2 Win payout was a decent $21.40 with the low being $2.80 and the high $113.20.
The first two dirt races the track was rated Good with the reamining rated Fast. The Turf course was rated Good all day.
Our Top selection won in (4) races as well as being in our Top 4 selection in (7) additional races.
We Hit (11) Exacta winners R1 ($17.60, R2 ($666.20), R3 ($7.40), R4 ($8.80), R6 ($26.60), R9 ($25.20), R10 ($49.60), R11 ($10.80), R12 ($152.00), R13 ($33.80) and R14 ($5.40).
Total - $1,003.40 for $2 wagers. Cashed in on (5) Trifectas – Race 2 ($1,853.10), Race 3 ($10.10), Race 6 ($21.90), Race10 ($34.50) and Race 11 ($26.40).
Total - $1,946.00 in $1 wagers. Also had (2) Superfectas in Race 3 ($14.10) and Race 11 ($122.40).
Total - $136.50 in $1 wagers. Hit (9) Daily Doubles – Race 1 ($123.00), Race 2 ($114.90), Race 3 ($3.80), Race 9 ($17.90), Race 10 ($9.10), Race 11 ($7.60), Race 12 ($10.80), Race 13 ($3.40) and Black-Eyed Susan/Preakness DBL ($15.00).
Total - $305.50 in $1 wagers. Had (6) Pick 3s - Race 1 ($189.10), Race 2 ($105.35), Race 9 ($24.25), Race 10 ($39.10), Race 11 ($11.30) and Race 12 ($16.90).
Total $386.00 in 50 CENT wagers. Cashed in on (1) Pick 4 – Race 10 ($88.85)
Total - $88.85 in 50 CENT Grand Total Winning Wagers - $3,866.25. wagers. Our Best Longshot to use in Race 2 Won paying $89.60. The Belmont Stakes, the final Leg of the Triple Crown series, is up next on June 7th and will be held at Saratoga for the 2nd year at the reduced distance of 1 1/4 Miles, not the usual 1 1/2 Miles. Will we get a Showdown of the KY Derby winner Sovereignty & the Preakness Stakes winner Journalism? If you did not sign up for our Triple Crown series Picks you can sign up for our Belmont Stakes & Full Card Picks by Clicking here Now...
Total - $1,003.40 for $2 wagers. Cashed in on (5) Trifectas – Race 2 ($1,853.10), Race 3 ($10.10), Race 6 ($21.90), Race10 ($34.50) and Race 11 ($26.40).
Total - $1,946.00 in $1 wagers. Also had (2) Superfectas in Race 3 ($14.10) and Race 11 ($122.40).
Total - $136.50 in $1 wagers. Hit (9) Daily Doubles – Race 1 ($123.00), Race 2 ($114.90), Race 3 ($3.80), Race 9 ($17.90), Race 10 ($9.10), Race 11 ($7.60), Race 12 ($10.80), Race 13 ($3.40) and Black-Eyed Susan/Preakness DBL ($15.00).
Total - $305.50 in $1 wagers. Had (6) Pick 3s - Race 1 ($189.10), Race 2 ($105.35), Race 9 ($24.25), Race 10 ($39.10), Race 11 ($11.30) and Race 12 ($16.90).
Total $386.00 in 50 CENT wagers. Cashed in on (1) Pick 4 – Race 10 ($88.85)
Total - $88.85 in 50 CENT Grand Total Winning Wagers - $3,866.25. wagers. Our Best Longshot to use in Race 2 Won paying $89.60. The Belmont Stakes, the final Leg of the Triple Crown series, is up next on June 7th and will be held at Saratoga for the 2nd year at the reduced distance of 1 1/4 Miles, not the usual 1 1/2 Miles. Will we get a Showdown of the KY Derby winner Sovereignty & the Preakness Stakes winner Journalism? If you did not sign up for our Triple Crown series Picks you can sign up for our Belmont Stakes & Full Card Picks by Clicking here Now...