The Preakness Stakes is the second leg of the Triple Crown — the “Middle Jewel” — run at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. It’s a 1³⁄₁₆-mile race (a touch shorter than the Derby) for three-year-olds, contested two to three weeks after the Kentucky Derby, and it’s the race that decides whether a Triple Crown will still be alive at the Belmont. The winner takes the Woodlawn Vase and a blanket of Black-Eyed Susans. The 2027 running is the 152nd renewal.
When & Where: 2027 Date (and Why It’s a Sunday)
The 2027 Preakness makes history. It runs on Sunday, May 23, 2027 — the first time any Triple Crown race has ever been held on a Sunday — and returns to Pimlico Race Course, reopening in a limited capacity while the track’s $500-million rebuild continues (after a one-time 2026 running at Laurel Park). The Black-Eyed Susan, the filly counterpart, runs the day before on Saturday, May 22. The later slot — three weeks and a day after the Derby, instead of the traditional two weeks — is designed to tempt more Derby runners into the second leg.
First-Timer Betting Offer
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How to Bet the Preakness
Horse racing is pari-mutuel: you bet into a shared pool through a licensed ADW (advance-deposit wagering) app, and the odds move with the money. Sportsbooks and prediction-market apps don’t offer racing, so an ADW is how you bet the Preakness legally in most states. The core bets:
- Win / Place / Show — first; first or second; or first, second, or third.
- Exacta — the first two in exact order.
- Trifecta / Superfecta — the first three or four in order. Preakness fields are smaller than the Derby’s, so these are more playable and often key around one standout.
- Daily Double / Pick 3–6 — winners of consecutive races on one ticket.
Watch the live board and place your bets from our today’s racing page.
Preakness Betting Stats & Trends
The Preakness carries a $2 million purse (the winner takes 60%, or $1.2 million). The betting story has shifted in recent years:
- The Derby winner increasingly skips it. With only two weeks’ rest under the old calendar, most Derby winners now pass — which is exactly why the 2027 race moved to a later Sunday date to draw them back.
- That’s made it upset-friendly. With fewer Derby horses, “new shooters” have taken over: recent winners include Napoleon Solo (2026, 7-1), Seize the Grey (2024, roughly 10-1), and several other double-digit prices over the past decade.
- But a live favorite can still dominate. In 2025, Journalism went off the odds-on favorite and won, having exited the Derby with a strong run. Small fields and Pimlico’s tight turns reward a class horse with tactical speed.
Horse.bet team tip: Read the field before you read the odds. If a fit Kentucky Derby runner — especially the winner or a beaten favorite — shows up, respect the short price; Pimlico’s turns suit a horse that can sit close to the pace. If the Derby form stays home, lean toward a fresh, in-form “new shooter” with early speed, and use exotics keyed around your top pick to turn a modest field into a payout.
Best Odds & Watching the Board
Preakness win odds are pari-mutuel, set by one shared pool, so at post time the price is the price wherever you bet. The place to gain an edge is before the race: early futures and fixed-price markets often list a Derby also-ran at a generous number before the public piles in on Preakness week. On the day, watch the tote for late moves and target the overlay the crowd is underrating. Track live Preakness odds, entries, and the full Pimlico card on our Pimlico racing data page.
Preakness Stakes 2027 Betting Promotions & Top Sites
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SPA250
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BET200
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During race week, expect Preakness odds boosts, enhanced exactas, and free-to-enter leaderboard contests at top sites.
Just getting into Preakness Stakes betting for the first time, and don’t know where to start? Here’s a look at some of the lucrative welcome offers and betting bonuses currently available from some of the most popular sportsbooks in the USA.
Top Tip: Focus on horses who either ran well in the Derby but got blocked or skipped it altogether and come in fresh. Shorter distances and fewer runners make exactas and trifectas more manageable.
Where can you bet and claim offers?
Fans can place Preakness Stakes wagers through licensed racebooks: AL, AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MT, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, ND, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SD, TN, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI, WY.
Where to find odds and bet on the Preakness Stakes
The Preakness Stakes represents the second leg of the Triple Crown of American thoroughbred racing. As a result, there is heightened interest at sportsbooks in the odds of the Kentucky Derby winner going on to win the Triple Crown.
Preakness Stakes odds usually open within hours of the running of the “Run for the Roses.
Those odds are accompanied by an array of other betting options as race day draws near, including an array of props bets, including wagering on the winning horse’s time, margin of victory, and even which horse will finish last.
The Preakness Stakes also provides an ideal opportunity for sports bettors to get in on the parimutuel action at the racebook. In addition to win/place/show betting that can enable you to bet on your favorite horse to finish first, second, or third. Moreover, there are plenty of exotic betting options in the racebook. That includes exacta wagering, which allows you to bet on which horses will finish first and second, in exact order, and trifecta betting, which lets you bet on the top three finishers, in exact order.
Where to watch the Preakness Stakes
Sports bettors in the United States can catch all the Preakness Stakes action on NBC. Coverage of race day events begins early in the day on the USA Network and NBCSports.com. Live coverage of the race is available on NBC and NBCSports.com. And it also streamed to paid subscribers on Peacock and the NBC Sports mobile app.
