Preakness 2015: Prize Money Purse, Latest Vegas Odds, Payouts and More
It won't come close to matching the betting money accumulated, but the 2015 Preakness Stakes will produce a pretty penny for whoever gallops into victory lane Saturday.
On the line is a whopping $1.5 million purse, according to TheTripleCrown.com, as Pimlico Race Course increased it to that total for the first time in 2014. That's only distributed between the top five finishers, though with an exclusive eight-horse field for Saturday, more than half of the contenders will land some winnings.
Let's take a look at how the purse money payouts break down and which horses currently have the best shot at taking the crown at the 140th Run for the Black-Eyed Susans.
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2015 Preakness Stakes Field, Odds
| 1 | American Pharoah | 10-13 | Bob Baffert | Victor Espinoza |
| 2 | Dortmund | 17-4 | Bob Baffert | Martin Garcia |
| 3 | Mr. Z | 33-1 | D. Wayne Lukas | Corey Nakatani |
| 4 | Danzig Moon | 20-1 | 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 |
Odds courtesy of Odds Shark, last updated May 15
Preakness Purse and Payouts
| First | $900,000 (60%) |
| Second | $300,000 (20%) |
| Third | $165,000 (11%) |
| Fourth | $90,000 (6%) |
| Fifth | $45,000 (3%) |
| Total Purse | $1.5 million |
Horses to Watch
American Pharoah
From I'll Have Another to California Chrome and now American Pharoah, the hopes of a horse racing Triple Crown continue to be passed down from year to year. But could the third time in the last four years be the charm?
Of course, unlike those two aforementioned threats, American Pharoah has yet to win the second of the three. But if the Kentucky Derby and the odds are any indication, he has a better chance to continue his quest than to end it come Saturday.
With that said, he'll have to do so starting in the No. 1 post and will have to deal with the dangerous Dortmund right next to him in the second gate. But Zayat Stables racing manager Justin Zayat has full belief that his thoroughbred can still make something of it, per Preakness.com.
“He’s a horse that is brilliantly fast. He has the talent to do it. We just have to pray for a clean break and a clean trip. He definitely can do it. He’s still in this race to win it.”
After winning at Churchill Downs from the outside, a different type of race will be asked of American Pharoah if he wants to continue these Triple Crown aspirations.
Firing Line
The Derby promised to be a two-horse race between trainer Bob Baffert's duo of American Pharoah and Dortmund, and it bubbled into a dead heat between the two down the stretch. But Firing Line galloped in to spoil the fun, finishing just one length off of victory to assume second place.
That performance alone proved Firing Line's worth for the remainder of the summer, but his camp is set on capitalizing off of it with an even better result at Pimlico. They scoffed at the short two-week layoff, and Firing Line is showing no signs of slowing.
To make matters even better for jockey Gary Stevens and crew, Firing Line will begin on the outside after nabbing the No. 8 post. As Stevens told Sports Illustrated's Tim Layden, he now has the options American Pharoah had at Churchill Downs:
Firing Line will have the opportunity to stay right with the pack, but will it be enough to hold off American Pharoah and Dortmund? There's no telling if he will have enough in the tank to finish like he did at the Derby, but he certainly helped his cause two weeks ago.
Mr. Z
There may be a big gap between American Pharoah, Dortmund, Firing Line and the other five horses in terms of overall danger, but Mr. Z's chances aren't lost among the top favorites.
While he's one of five horses from the Derby to enter into the Preakness field, Mr. Z boasted the worst finish of all of them in 13th. But had he not gotten jammed among a tight group of secondary horses at Churchill Downs, he would have finished much better.
After lauding American Pharoah's chances of victory, Zayat made it no secret that Mr. Z is one of the top horses to worry about, per Preakness.com:
“For sure, I respect Mr. Z and I know Mr. Z is not a horse who has got cheap speed. He really hangs and fights with you until the end. He can definitely do it to Pharoah. For sure, that’s definitely a concern of mine.”
Churchill Downs didn't end well for Mr. Z, but trainer D. Wayne Lukas is one of the best at making the short turnaround for the Preakness. Third-place finishes at the Louisiana Derby and Smarty Jones Stakes indicate Mr. Z can turn it on late and sneak into the top three.
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