Preakness 2016: Prize Money Purse, Latest Vegas Odds, Payouts and More

The Preakness Stakes is often looked at as the Triple Crown race with the least amount of prestige.

The Kentucky Derby opens the Triple Crown season and may be the race with the most color, pageantry and the greatest history. The Belmont Stakes is the test of champions because of its 1 1/2-mile distance, the long stretch run at Belmont Park and because it's the race that can deliver the Triple Crown to the winner.

American Pharoah became the first horse to earn that honor in 37 years when he accomplished the feat in 2015. 

Nyquist may well be in a position to earn that title this year, but he must find a way to win the Preakness in Baltimore if that is going to happen. Eleven horses are scheduled to be in the field Saturday in likely rainy conditions for the second jewel of the Triple Crown.

So while the Preakness may not have the gravitas of the other two Triple Crown races, it is just as important and a great test for any horse. The 1 3/16-mile distance is a huge factor. While it is just 1/16 of a mile shorter than the Derby, the tactics in the race are often quite a bit different.

Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore features much tighter turns than Churchill Downs, and that makes it tougher for come-from-behind horses to make up ground. However, the distance is too great for a horse to simply shoot to the top and then try to outlast the field.

Post	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Odds
1	Cherry Wine	Dale Romans	Corey Lanerie	20-1
2	Uncle Lino	Gary Sherlock	Fernando Perez	20-1
3	Nyquist	Doug O'Neill	Mario Gutierrez	3-5
4	Awesome Speed	Alan Goldberg	Jevian Toledo	30-1
5	Exaggerator	Keith Desormeaux	Kent Desormeaux	3-1
6	Lani	Mikio Matsunaga	Yutaka Take	30-1
7	Collected	Bob Baffert	Javier Castellano	10-1
8	Laoban	Eric Guillot	Florent Geroux	30-1
9	Abiding Star	Ned Allar	J.D. Acosta	30-1
10	Fellowship	Mark Casse	Jose Lezcano	30-1
11	Stradivari	Todd Pletcher	John Velazquez	8-1

Tactics are a huge factor, and that is one of the key reasons that Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist is a 3-5 favorite, according to Preakness.com.

Nyquist has won all eight of his previous races, and he has done it in every way a horse can get it done on the race track. Nyquist has been able to come from behind and win, and he has also been able to get to the front and stretch it out.

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However, he is probably at his best when stalking the pace before turning it on at the proper moment to put his signature on the race and come away with the victory. That's what happened at Churchill Downs, and it would not be a surprise if trainer Doug O'Neill and jockey Mario Gutierrez employed the same strategy at the Preakness.

But it's Nyquist's ability to adjust that makes him a great horse. He will get tested in this race, and one of the factors could be the weather.

The likelihood is that the race will be run in the rain (h/t Weather Channel), and Nyquist has not run in those conditions before. However, second-choice Exaggerator has, and he has been brilliant running on an off-track. He won the Santa Anita Derby on a sloppy track in April, and he was a hard-running second to Nyquist in the Kentucky Derby.

Exaggerator's trainer Keith Desormeaux explained to Blood Horse writer Ron Mitchell that his horse has the capacity to recover quickly, and that could give him the edge in the Preakness.

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The way we are going to beat [Nyquist] is not by being just fast. I have a horse who—one of his traits is his ability to recover. Exaggerator had his energy level back and his demeanor and body looked the same 24 hours after the Kentucky Derby. Maybe Nyquist doesn’t recover that well. It’s not normal for a horse to recover that quickly. That’s where I hang my hopes, that his energy level won’t be at its best and obviously he has to be at his best to beat Exaggerator.

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Collected is trained by Bob Baffert, and he will try to get the best of Nyquist and Exaggerator as he breaks from the No. 7 hole. Collected is a speed horse who is likely to get to the top early in the race.

No. 11 Stradivari is rated as an 8-1 shot, and he is trained by Todd Pletcher. Stradivari won his last two starts in impressive fashion, but he does not have a lot of experience.

The Preakness has a prize pool of $1.5 million guaranteed, according to thetriplecrown.com. The winner will earn $900,000 of that purse, while the second-place finisher will earn $300,000.

The third-, fourth- and fifth-place finishers will earn $165,000, $90,000 and $45,000, respectively.