Preakness Picks 2024: Predictions and Odds for All Horses in the Lineup

Mystik Dan's quest for the Triple Crown became a bit easier in the buildup to the Preakness Stakes.

Morning line favorite Muth was scratched to an illness earlier this week. That left Mystik Dan as the favored horse to win at Pimlico Race Course on Saturday.

Mystik Dan's unlikely Kentucky Derby win thrust him into the horse racing spotlight. He has a legitimate chance to capture the Preakness given how weak the field looks at the moment.

Preakness Stakes Field and Odds

1. Mugatu (20-1)

2. Uncle Heavy (20-1)

3. Catching Freedom (6-1)

5, Mystik Dan (5-2)

6. Seize The Gray (15-1)

7. Just Steel (15-1)

8. Tuscan Gold (8-1)

9. Imagination (6-1)

Predictions

Mystik Dan is in much better shape to win at Pimlico because of Muth's absence.

Muth has been one of the best three-year-old horses in the country, and if Bob Baffert was not banned from Churchill Downs, he would have been in the mix to win the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago.

Instead, Mystik Dan's biggest threat now comes from Catching Freedom, who took fourth at the Derby.

Mystik Dan, Catching Freedom and longshot Just Steel are the only Derby horses scheduled to run in the Preakness.

The Derby winner did finish behind Catching Freedom and Just Steel in at least one build-up race to the first Saturday in May, but Mystik Dan had the best performance of the trio during the race.

Mystik Dan owns three wins, a pair of top-three finishes and two fifth-place marks in his racing career. The variance of those results may concern anyone backing him to continue the Triple Crown quest on to the Belmont Stakes.

Catching Freedom is expected to be in contention for all of the Preakness. He has never finished outside the top four in a race.

Imagination, now the lone Baffert-trained horse in the field, could disrupt the Triple Crown talk.

The horse starting from Post No. 9 finished in first or second in every race of his career and most recently took second in the Santa Anita Derby in April.

One of Mystik Dan, Catching Freedom or Imagination should win the Preakness if they run their best race.

A long-shot winner could always happen, but that is less likely to occur with a smaller field at Pimlico.

Prediction: 1. Imagination, 2. Catching Freedom, 3. Mystik Dan