Preakness 2015 Odds: Latest Vegas Betting Lines, Picks and Predictions

Seven horses separate American Pharoah from being one race away from history. On paper, five of those horses look like non-contenders playing out the string and hoping to luck their way into a spot on the podium. The other two, Pharoah defeated two weeks ago at Churchill Downs.

Unfortunately, as we've all learned over these last few decades, past performance does not necessarily indicate future results.

Pharoah heads into Saturday's Preakness Stakes with the sport resting on his every stride. It's unfair to say horse racing needs him to win at Pimlico, but all involved are better off if he does. Ratings for the Belmont Stakes are almost wholly dependent on the result of the Preakness.

Post Position	Horse	Odds	Trainer	Jockey
1	American Pharoah	10-13	Bob Baffert	Victor Espinoza
2	Dortmund	15-4	Bob Baffert	Martin Garcia
3	Mr. Z	25-1	D. Wayne Lukas	Corey Nakatani
4	Danzig Moon	14-1	Mark Casse	Julien Leparoux
5	Tale of Verve	50-1	Dallas Stewart	Joel Rosario
6	Bodhisattva	50-1	Jose Corrales	Trevor McCarthy
7	Divining Rod	20-1	Arnaud Delacour	Javier Castellano
8	Firing Line	17-4	Simon Callaghan	Gary Stevens

A potential Triple Crown gooses things up like a helium balloon. Last year, California Chrome's failed bid generated 21.3 million viewers, the second-biggest audience in history. To contrast, NBC had seven million people tune in during a 2013 Belmont without a Triple Crown on the line.

The math here isn't difficult. Three times as many viewers means exponentially higher revenue for the network and everyone involved with the sport. An American Pharoah win at the Preakness means NBC can expect viewership in the same general ballpark as a year ago. An American Pharoah loss means NBC will be begging advertisers to not jump ship.

While none of those machinations matter to the average fan, they do to everyone in American Pharoah's stable. Bob Baffert knows everything that goes into this process; he's already done it three times. Jockey Victor Espinoza was here last year with California Chrome; the pressure is second hat to him at this point.

"They are all special when you go to the Preakness with a horse that you think has a really good chance," Baffert said of his past outings, per Justin Silberman of Pressbox. "It's better when you think you have a good chance, but when you go in there with a [Kentucky] Derby winner, everybody is on a high…So we're pretty excited about that."

For the second straight race, American Pharoah will have to overcome an unfortunate post draw if he hopes to win. After being cast near the outer edge at the Kentucky Derby, Pharoah will run a polar opposite route from the inside post at Pimlico. With seven horses converging on the inside, it'll be critical that Espinoza gets him off to a solid start and avoids being squeezed into the rail.

"I never like the 1 hole," Baffert said, per Dan Wolken of USA Today. "That's the first time I've ever drawn the rail here. I've been so lucky. You don't like to see it, but if he's the best horse we'll find out."

American Pharoah will nonetheless enter the race as a 10-13 favorite, per Odds Shark. He'll line up alongside perhaps his best competition in Dortmund, another Baffert-trained colt who finished third at the Derby. Dortmund won his previous six races before falling short at Churchill Downs, losing steam down the stretch after a strong start.

"I mean, Dortmund came in undefeated, and he still ran a very gallant race to run third," Baffert said, per Childs Walker of the Baltimore Sun. "I really thought, when they turned down the backside, he would win it, the way he was just cruising along like he did in California. But he got a little tired. Since then, he's really trained well. I expect another big effort out of him."

Perhaps the biggest winner of the draw, though, was Derby runner-up Firing Line. The colt, who came within a length of taking down Pharoah two weeks ago, will ride the outside in the No. 8 post. While being outside in a huge field like the Kentucky Derby is a disadvantage, there aren't nearly enough horses in the field to have this post be anything short of a boost.

Rather than contending with a horse on each side, jockey Gary Stevens should be able to get a clean run out of the break.

Place	Horse
1	American Pharoah
2	Dortmund
3	Firing Line
4	Danzig Moon
5	Bodhisattva
6	Divining Rod
7	Tale of Verve
8	Mr. Z

"It's a huge advantage," Stevens said, per Wolken. "Having American Pharoah on the outside of me in the Derby, (jockey) Victor (Espinoza) had options and he took advantage of them. Hopefully I'll be able to take the same kind of advantage in this race. I'm going to sleep a lot easier tonight than had I drawn on the inside."

While there are five other horses to cover, it's valid to expect this to become another three-horse race. After the trio at the top, Danzig Moon is the only other entrant with better than 15-1 odds. Half of the field is listed at 20-1 or worse.

On paper, this all should shape up for American Pharoah to make television and horse racing executives happy. We'll see Saturday if Pharoah is as special as they say.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter.