How to play the Preakness card with $50
My Preakness opinion is that this has not been a great crop of 3-year-olds and we are waiting for a fresh face to reboot the division. I really like Owendale (No. 5). He exploded to win the Lexington Stakes, one of the faster Kentucky Derby prep races, is trained by a high-percentage horseman in Brad Cox, should get an advantageous pace to attack, and will be the right price. Right or wrong, he ticks all the boxes for me, and I want to bet him Saturday.
How best to make money with him on a $50 budget?
One could play the entire kitty on him to win as he might offer double-digit win odds ($50 Win on No. 5).
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Multiple-race players looking for a score, however, might want to key him in the guaranteed pick four and pick five wagers.
Let's take a brief look at a possible pick five ticket (50-cent base):
Leg A (Race 9) – Jo Jo Air (No. 6), Wild About Star (No. 9)
Leg B (Race 10) – I’m So Fancy (No. 1), Inflexibility (No. 2), Thewayiam (No. 3), Barkaa (No. 9)
Leg C (Race 11) – Malpais (No. 3), Pyron (No. 7), Preamble (No. 8)
Leg D (Race 12) – Inspector Lynley (No. 11), Catholic Boy (No. 12)
Leg E (Preakness) – Ownendale (No. 5)
This 2 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1 ticket would cost $24 for the base 50-cent bet.
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For the pick four, I might play it this way:
Leg A (Race 10) – I’m So Fancy (No. 1), Inflexibility (No. 2), Thewayiam (No. 3), Barkaa (No. 9)
Leg B (Race 11) – Malpais (No. 3), Pyron (No. 7), Preamble (No. 8)
Leg C (Race 12) – Just Howard (No. 2), Admission Office (No. 3), Inspector Lynley (No. 11), Catholic Boy (No. 12)
Leg D (Preakness) – Ownendale (No. 5)
This 4 x 3 x 4 x 1 ticket would cost $24 for the base 50-cent bet and would include a few horses not used in the pick five. Please feel free to mix and match based on your own opinions.
Note that Ticketmaker is definitely a better option for multiple-race wagers. You can check it out on DRF.com and weight your wagers based on your opinions.
Please remember that you can get the full analysis of these races at video.drf.com. The DRFTV team of handicappers takes a horse-by-horse approach in analyzing each stakes race on the Preakness card.
Good luck!
