Total Preakness betting takes plunge compared to last year

Total betting on Saturday’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland, dropped 16.4 percent compared to last year, according to charts of the races, as the short field in the race took its toll on all pools.

This year’s Preakness had seven runners, compared to nine last year, causing steep declines in nearly all pools held on the race. In addition, nearly all multi-race bets that were linked to the Preakness suffered double-digit drops, with the traditional pick 5 linking the Preakness and its four preceding races cratering 75.4 percent.

Betting on the races preceding the Preakness was running 13.7 percent ahead of last year’s card going into the race, in part because the track added three pick 5 bets to the menu and linked another two pick 5 bets from Friday's card into Saturday’s card. The pick 5 bets all had a takeout of 12 percent and 50-cent minimums.

In addition, betting in the races held prior to the Preakness was robust in the straight and exotic pools. In the James W. Murphy Stakes, held just before the Preakness, betting was up double digits for a race with nine horses, the same-sized field for the race in the pre-Preakness slot last year, while handle on the last race on the card, a stakes races for Arabian horses, was also up, by 9.8 percent.

In the Preakness, betting in the straight pools was down 4.7 percent, while betting in the exacta pool dropped 12.7 percent. The trifecta pool declined 20.0 percent, the superfecta pool dropped 36.7 percent, and the super Hi-5 dropped 27.0 percent.

The three pick 5 bets ending in the Preakness handled a total of $1.3 million, compared to $3.33 million in the single pick 5 ending in the Preakness last year. The other two pick 5 bets added earlier in the card handled a total of $1.12 million.

Counting all pools, betting on the Preakness was $54.56 million, compared to $65.29 million last year. The record Preakness handle was set in 2021, when the total amount bet was $68.69 million, for a drop over the two years of 20.5 percent.

However, with handle up elsewhere on the 14-race card, total betting on Saturday’s Pimlico races declined 5.0 percent, from $105.47 million last year to $100.17 million this year. This year’s card had a total of 117 runners, compared to 110 runners last year.

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