FREE Equibase Past Performance Chart for Preakness 2013 (pdf)
Now, on to the Preakness analysis. The important thing to note is that Rosario is absolutely red hot as a jockey and I wish him and Orb all the best of luck. They do indeed look really strong. Not sure if they look 3/5 odds strong. But hey, I will probably place a souvenir bet on # 1 Orb. If he wins this and then wins the Belmont to take the Triple crown, those souvenir tickets would mean a lot.
The main thing about the Preakness this year is the reduced field, leaving only 9 horses in the fray, which makes lot of top jockeys available for other horses that had different rides in their last race. Case in point - Mike Smith jumps on board #7 Will Take Charge, a colt who did well in the Rebel Stakes to beat Oxbow. Will take charge had to check in the Derby in the stretch and that hurt his chances. If this horse gets a better trip and his decent workout from 13th May (48.20/4F) indicates he is in good shape, then he is surely worth playing in the exotics like tri/supers and also a good PL/SH bets.
I do not have very high hopes from #6 Oxbow, because if you notice one thing, he briefly came close to the lead in the Derby and then ecked out a 6th. He did not do much in the Arkansas Derby (came 5th). He went to the lead in the stretch in the Rebel and the Risen Star, but got beat in both of those (2nd and 4th respectively). His margin of victory was improving only in his 1m70yd LeComte Stakes among his recent races. So.. what do I do? You are getting odds of 15-1 on the M/L. It does not hurt to throw a PL/SH bet, because this one shows up at almost every race and grinds it out quite well. If his odds remain at bigger than 12-1 he is worth keeping in the exotics/PL/SH pools.
There are two others I like, although their odds may not be that great, but still will remain good odds considering Orb is becoming a prohibitive favorite.
These two are #4 Departing and #5 Mylute. Mylute is the one I favor between the two, mainly because of the talented jockey Napravnik and also because this horse has done well in good competition. Mylute closed well in the Derby and we don't know if the steadying early on hampered his chances in any way. If he gets a better trip, Mylute could do exceedingly well. So, WP bets are worth placing and if the Show pool looks good throw some in there too.
Departing has gone really well, winning most of his races and the one race he came 3rd, the two horses that beat him, did awfully well in the Kentucky Derby.
So, to summarize, this is what I will likely bet
- Win bets on #1 Orb (souvenir), #4 Departing (fresh horse), #5 Mylute
- PL bets on #5 Mylute, #7 Will Take Charge
- PL on #6 Oxbow, if odds at 5 mtp remain above 12-1 on him (and proportionally at place pool).
- SH bets on #6 Oxbow, #7 Will Take Charge
I am absolutely tossing out Goldencents if he is less than 10-1. If he is over 10-1, a small win bet, but I really feel like this is an excuse horse.
Betting basics for Preakness
TO BE HONEST, I am not happy with just a nine horse field in the Preakness, when we could have had up to 14 horses!
Good luck and Happy and Safe Racing
Post race comment:
ReplyDeleteGary Stevens gave Oxbow a superb ride and got him to win. Unfortunately for my picks, Mylute fired well but was placed too far back early and coupled with the moderate pace, the closing kick was not enough to surge. But Napravnik did well to finish on the board in a TC race- a very solid achievement.
Oh, so I forgot to put the PL bet on Oxbow- can you believe it?
My show bets on oxbow and mylute paid back something. But otherwise, I just had to rely on other random smaller races to make money during the day!