Preakness 2015: Post Positions, Odds and Race Schedule for Pimlico

The post position draws at the Triple Crown events in horse racing resemble officiating at the Super Bowl, NBA Finals or March Madness. It is completely out of the jockeys’ and trainers’ hands, and the best anyone can hope for is it doesn’t ruin a horse’s chances at winning the title.

Wednesday marked the Preakness post draw, and Triple Crown hopeful American Pharoah drew the inside rail with the No. 1 position. It certainly isn't ideal for trainer Bob Baffert and American Pharoah's team, but at least there are only eight horses compared to the 19 from the Kentucky Derby.

American Pharoah's biggest challenger, Dortmund, drew the No. 2 position and must also avoid getting pinned against the rails with a quick start.

Here is a look at the entire post position information and the odds for each horse, courtesy of the Preakness.com live stream.

Post Position	Horse	Odds	Trainer	Jockey
1	American Pharoah	4-5	Bob Baffert	Victor Espinoza
2	Dortmund	7-2	Bob Baffert	Martin Garcia
3	Mr. Z	20-1	D. Wayne Lukas	Corey Nakatani
4	Danzig Moon	15-1	Mark Casse	Julien Leparoux
5	Tale of Verve	30-1	Dallas Stewart	Joel Rosario
6	Bodhisattva	20-1	Jose Corrales	Trevor McCarthy
7	Divining Rod	12-1	Arnaud Delacour	Javier Castellano
8	Firing Line	4-1	Simon Callaghan	Gary Stevens

2015 Preakness Schedule

Date: Saturday, May 16

TV: NBC

Live Stream: NBC Sports Live Extra

Time: 4:30 p.m. ET (post time will be approximately 6:18 p.m. ET, per the event’s website)  

Purse: $1.5 million (per the event’s website)

Preakness Post Draw Reaction

While Wednesday’s post results are certainly important, it must be noted that the Preakness posts don’t carry as much weight as the ones at the Kentucky Derby.

The Derby field starts with as many as 20 horses (the field settled at 19 this year because two horses scratched and an alternate entered), which means it is much easier to get pinned against the rails or simply caught in too much traffic at the starting gate. There are more horses to navigate and not nearly as many clear openings, and early positioning is key.

This year's Preakness only features eight horses, which is the smallest group since 2000.

That is the saving grace for American Pharoah after Wednesday's disappointing draw. Baffert suggested as much, per Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports:

American Pharoah’s post was bound to receive the most attention Wednesday because he will try to become the first horse to win the Triple Crown since Affirmed did so in 1978. There was also concern about his post at the Kentucky Derby when he drew the No. 18 gate, but he overcame the outside starting position for the impressive victory.

In fact, he used that outside positioning to his advantage and charged to the finish past Firing Line and Dortmund when a clearing opened up in the final stretch.

Garry Jones/Associated Press

Now he must do nearly the exact opposite with the No. 1 position. It is imperative that American Pharoah jumps out to a favorable start so he doesn't get trapped behind too much traffic without a lane. That is no easy task.

Ultimately, American Pharoah counts five consecutive victories on his resume and a win over a loaded field at the Kentucky Derby. He was going to be the favorite Saturday regardless of the post draw, but Wednesday's results made the race all the more interesting.

Perhaps his biggest competition is Dortmund, who drew the No. 2 position.

Dortmund attacked the Kentucky Derby from a favorable No. 8 post position and nearly led the entire race wire-to-wire. He eventually lost steam near the end and dropped to third place, but Pimlico is slightly shorter than Churchill Downs.

Whichever horse jumps out to the initial lead between American Pharoah and Dortmund has the opportunity to seize control of the race on the inside and cut the other one off on the final stretch.

Dortmund was undefeated before the Derby and boasts Grade 1 stakes victories at the Santa Anita Derby and Los Alamitos Futurity. It would not be a surprise at all if he jumped out to another lead at the Preakness and carried it all the way to the finish line, ruining the Triple Crown dreams in the process.

Garry Jones/Associated Press

The other horse to watch based on Kentucky Derby performances is Firing Line, who overtook Dortmund near the end at Churchill Downs but watched American Pharoah power his way to the finish line from the outside.

Firing Line’s camp is accustomed to disappointments, as his four career losses have come by less than two lengths. However, American Pharoah and Dortmund drawing the two inside posts opens up the door for Firing Line from the outside, and Dan Wolken of USA Today passed along jockey Gary Stevens' response to the post draws:

Stevens discussed his horse and the confidence surrounding his Preakness chances, per Alicia Wincze Hughes of the Lexington Herald-Leader:

"

A lot of people, because of his first two defeats by Dortmund, thought that he was a horse that likes to hang a little bit and maybe doesn't want to try in a battle, and I think that ... the Derby proved that people might have been mistaken. There was a lot of question about his ability to get the distance. He put that to rest.

"

That confidence is probably even higher with the favorite starting from the inside gate. Forde noted that there really isn't another horse to watch at the Preakness outside of these three:

We could be on our way to another dramatic finish again between American Pharoah, Dortmund and Firing Line in the second leg of the Triple Crown.