Preakness Field 2015: Post Positions, Odds and Predictions for All Horses

For most horse racing fans, there is nothing left but anticipation and anxiousness ahead of the 2015 Preakness Stakes, set for Saturday, May 16, at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.

The post positions are set, much of the training is wrapped up and the field should be all but set for the second jewel of thoroughbred horse racing's Triple Crown.

American Pharoah—the latest Triple Crown hopeful courtesy of his thrilling win at the Kentucky Derby on May 2—drew the dreaded No. 1 post position, riding the inside rail unless he and jockey Victor Espinoza can help it.

The field has shrunk considerably in the lead-up to Saturday's Run for the Black-Eyed Susans. That means fewer competitors for American Pharoah to deal with, but just how much of an impact the short lineup and post position will have is up for debate.

Here are the post positions, latest odds and predictions for every horse in the field.

Post Position	Horse	Odds	Prediction
1	American Pharoah	5-6	2
2	Dortmund	15-4	1
3	Mr. Z	25-1	7
4	Danzig Moon	16-1	3
5	Tale of Verve	50-1	8
6	Bodhisattva	40-1	5
7	Divining Rod	16-1	6
8	Firing Line	17-4	4

Note: Odds courtesy of Odds Shark and updated as of May 12 at 5 a.m. ET.

Now, the post positions are random, but this draw certainly shook things up in an intriguing way. Starting on the inside rail carries with it all kinds of negative connotations. At the Kentucky Derby, no horse has won from that post since 1986. In the Preakness, the last winner to burst forth from Gate No. 1 was Tabasco Cat in 1994. 

"You don’t like to be on the inside, but we’ll have to deal with it,” said American Pharoah trainer Bob Baffert , via The Washington Post's Andrew Beyer.

Getting jammed up inside is one thing; having to do that when the next horse in line is a towering beast is another. Dortmund—who came in third at the Derby and, like American Pharoah, is trained by Baffert—breaks from the No. 2 gate, and at 17 hands, he is an exceptionally big, rumbling colt. His size could prove troublesome for American Pharoah getting out ahead or getting off the rail.

Dortmund would likely win any jockeying for position that involved actual contact, and with this race being 1/16 of a mile shorter than the Derby, the horse won't have to worry about hauling its big frame around the track as long it did at Churchill Downs.

Even if American Pharoah is held back at the start, he certainly proved in the Kentucky Derby that he has the stamina to finish off a race, overcoming Firing Line down the final stretch. Beyer also points out that the Preakness has a much smaller field than the Derby and the inside posts may not necessarily be worthy of their accursed reputation:

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The Preakness hasn’t produced such confirmation that inside posts are unfavorable.  With an average of 10.6 horses in a field, the Preakness is a more cleanly run race than the Derby. The footnotes to the Preakness charts indicate significant trouble at the start for only two horses breaking from post No. 1 — Mint Slewlep in 2007 and Marciano in 2001. They were 40-1 and 46-1 respectively, so it’s doubtful that their trouble cost them anything. An unusual number of starters from post 1 since 1987 have been extreme longshots, possibly skewing the statistics.

"

If any horse has a chance of breaking such trends, it's American Pharoah. In any case, the biggest threat may come from way outside.

Derby runner-up Firing Line has the No. 8 post, leaving the colt and jockey Gary Stevens plenty of room to maneuver on Saturday.

"It certainly gives us options out there," said Firing Line trainer Simon Callaghan, via Jonathan Lintner of The Courier-Journal. "...We'll just see where he's comfortable. He can rate, or he can be placed on the lead."

While American Pharoah and Dortmund battle it out inside, Firing Line may be able to skip past the mayhem and set the pace for much of the race.

The three big names from the Derby all took spots that add drama and intrigue to Saturday's race at Pimlico, but they didn't get the best posts. According to Preakness.com, the No. 6 post has produced 16 winners since 1909, with Oxbow being the most recent winner in 2013.

Local thoroughbred Bodhisattva drew that prolific post, although that didn't seem to do much for his odds. Still, Bodhisattva is coming off a win at the Federico Tesio Stakes at Pimlico in April and could be in for a surprise run on Saturday.