How To Bet the Preakness Stakes

Written May 14, 2008 by Jack Jones

The Preakness Stakes is fast approaching and it’s a good time to start thinking about who you are going to place your bet/bets on this weekend. With Big Brown’s convincing win at the Kentucky Derby, he comes into the Preakness Stakes as the favorite to win and come within one race of completing the Triple Crown.With the attention that Big Brown will be getting this weekend, it might be hard to put your money on a different horse, but as it stands now his odds require you to risk a ton if you want to win anything. With those odds likely to even get worse for the bettor, it may be a good idea to take a closer look at the rest of the field. If you can’t convince yourself from taking any other horse than Big Brown, than we suggest that it could be of interest to try and hit a more complicated bet. This allows you to keep your bet with in reason and gives you a chance to beef up that wallet for some summer spending.

If you are new to horse betting it might be a good idea to stick to a simple bet till you get a hold of how things work when it comes to placing your bets. For the more experienced bettors it might be a good idea to hit up a more complicated bet. Our favorite is the Trifecta Box or maybe a Perfecta. If you are like many of the people that think Big Brown is going to win the race, why not try and show off your skill and pick the horse that is going to finish behind him and up the amount of money headed towards you after the race. For your convenience here is a quick recap of some of the bets you can make on the Preakness Stakes this weekend.

Simple Bets

Straight Bet – This is the easiest and the most common of bets. All you do is pick the winner at given odds, and you only win if the horse you pick comes in first.

Place Bet – This bet gives you a little extra insurance, as it allows the horse that you pick to finish the race either 1st or 2nd. Though your chances of winning are improved, the amount you can win drops. If you are torn between two horses this is usually a good and safe bet to make.

Show Bet – If you want to improve your chances even more of winning even more, than the show bet is what you’re looking for. You simply pick a horse and all it has to do is finish in the top 3 and you win. There is even incentive for the horse you pick to win, as you get more money the higher your horse finishes.

Complicated Bets

Quiniela – To make this bet you have to pick the two horses you think will finish first and second in either order. This is where things get a little harder as you are forced to find two horses instead of one.

Quiniela Box – This is a much easier bet as you can pick 3 horses and all that needs to happen for you to win is two of the three horses need to finish in the top 2.

Perfecta – This bet is pretty much the same idea as the Quiniela, but you are required to pick the two horses that will finish 1st and 2nd in the exact order.

Trifecta – Trifecta is the exact same thing as the Perfecta, except you are required to pick the exact 1-2-3 finish to the race.

Trifecta Box – This is a little easier than the normal Trifecta, as you pick three horses to finish in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in any order. This is a popular bet for your big time horse betters, but we advise any new comers to stay away from this unless you have good knowledge of the horses racing.

Superfecta – To win this bet you really need to have some luck, as you have to pick the exact order of the first four horses to cross the finish line. Its hard enough to pick 1 or 2 horses to finish in order, picking 4 is a much harder task than you might think.
So now that you got the betting down get over to Bodoglife.com and get your bets in on the race today. Be sure to check out our Preakness Stakes Predictions for some extra help on who to place your bet on. After the Preakness Stakes be sure to check back in the following weeks for our coverage on the Belmont Stakes. As always feel free to leave any comments in our comment box.

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

No comments yet, but your thoughts are welcome!

Comments

Got something to say?