Preakness Stakes 2025
We won’t have a Triple Crown winner this year, as Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty is pointed towards the Belmont Stakes next month, but we have a field of nine hopefuls looking to win the Preakness Stakes in 2025, which is the 150th running of the race.
Rain is in the forecast pretty much all week in Baltimore, so we’ll see what the Pimlico Race Course surface looks like by Saturday night, with a scheduled post time of 6:50 p.m. ET on Saturday May 17.
| Post | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Odds |
| 1 | Goal Oriented | F. Prat | B. Baffert | 6-1 |
| 2 | Journalism | U. Rispoli | M. McCarthy | 8/5 |
| 3 | American Promise | N. Juarez | D. Lukas | 15-1 |
| 4 | Heart Of Honor | S. Osborne | J. Osborne | 12-1 |
| 5 | Pay Billy | R. Mena | M. Gorham | 20-1 |
| 6 | River Thames | I. Ortiz Jr. | T. Pletcher | 9/2 |
| 7 | Sandman | J. Velazquez | M. Casse | 4-1 |
| 8 | Clever Again | J. Ortiz | S. Asmussen | 5-1 |
| 9 | Gosger | L. Saez | B. Walsh | 20-1 |
Odds listed are from the time of the post draw.
Journalism will break from the No. 2 post as the race favorite after finishing second in the Kentucky Derby. Umberto Rispoli has the ride again and we’ll see if the track is smoother or if we have a repeat of a run in the mud, as the Churchill Downs track was sloppy a couple weeks ago.
Joining Journalism among the Derby entrants running two weeks later in the Preakness Stakes are American Promise (16th) and Sandman (7th). There has been a lot of discussion since it was announced that Sovereignty was bypassing this race as to whether or not the Triple Crown races need to be spread out a bit. This field will not limit that discussion.
Trainer Michael McCarthy will be looking for his second win in this race, as he had Rombauer with jockey Flavien Prat back in 2021. A second win for McCarthy would tie him with Steve Asmussen, who goes into Saturday hoping that Clever Again can end a longstanding Preakness drought. His last winner came in 2009 with a rocket of a horse in Rachel Alexandra, just two years after he won with Curlin.
Incredibly, Todd Pletcher has not won this race in 10 tries, but based on the odds, he has a terrific shot with River Thames and world-class rider Irad Ortiz. Jr. Pletcher is not the only winless trainer in the Preakness, as he is joined by Jamie A. Osborne, Michael Gorham, and Brendan Walsh.
Mark Casse’s lone win came in 2019 with War of Will. Bob Baffert, whose contender Goal Oriented drew the rail post, has eight wins in this race, including 2023 winner National Treasure. D. Wayne Lukas has seven wins in the Preakness Stakes, with his most recent coming last year, as Seize the Grey won with Jaime Torres in the mount.
There are four horses in the field coming in off of wins, as Goal Oriented won an allowance race at Churchill Downs during Derby weekend, Pay Billy won the Federico Tesio at Laurel Park about a month ago, Clever Again won the Hot Springs listed stakes at Oaklawn on March 30, and Gosger won the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland, a Grade 3 stakes win with Irad Ortiz Jr. in the irons. Luis Saez gets the ride this time.
Journalism is the class of this field on paper and the 8/5 price tag may not be low enough as the week goes along, but keep an eye on Sandman, who is part-owned by influencer Griffin Johnson. The son of Tapit ran seventh in the Kentucky Derby after winning the Arkansas Derby a few weeks prior. He’ll get a lot of support from Johnson’s followers, of which there are nearly 13 million across the various social media platforms.
We’ll have tons of Preakness Stakes weekend coverage from Mike Somich, Dave Tuley, Ed Sehon, and Adam Burke as post time approaches, including our special VSiN At The Track broadcasts on Friday and Saturday.
