Preakness Stakes 2025 odds, picks: Sovereignty, Journalism, Rodriguez predictions by top horse racing expert

None of the last five Preakness Stakes winners competed in the Kentucky Derby, a trend multiple horses appear ready to challenge at the 2025 Preakness Stakes. War of Will is the last horse to win a Preakness Stakes after running in the Kentucky Derby, doing so in 2019. The 2025 Preakness Stakes field will cement itself as the weekend progresses, leading to the post draw on Monday and the Preakness Stakes 2025 on Saturday, May 17. Which 2025 Preakness Stakes horses should you target in 2025 Preakness Stakes bets?

Sovereignty, who won the Kentucky Derby, won’t seek to become the third Triple Crown winner this century as his team announced that the horse won’t be among the 2025 Preakness Stakes contenders. Journalism, who finished second at the Run for the Roses, is the 6-5 favorite, followed by Rodriguez (3-1) and Goal Oriented (5-1) in the latest 2025 Preakness Stakes odds. Before making any 2025 Preakness Stakes picks, be sure to see the horse racing predictions and 2025 Preakness Stakes futures bets from SportsLine’s elite horse racing expert Jody Demling, considering his domination of Triple Crown races. 

A fixture in the horse racing world who has been writing about, talking about and betting on races for years, Demling hit the top three finishers in the Kentucky Derby in the correct order. He also called 10 of the last 20 Preakness winners, including 2023 when he hit the winner, exacta, trifecta and superfecta. He hit the trifecta in the 2024 Preakness Stakes and has predicted the winner of the Belmont Stakes four of the last seven years. Anyone who has followed those picks on sites like FanDuel Racing, TwinSpires and 1/ST BET is up huge.

Now, with the 2025 Preakness Stakes post positions set and odds on the board, Demling is sharing his 2025 Preakness Stakes betting picks and 2025 Preakness Stakes predictions over at SportsLine. Go here to see them.

Top 2025 Preakness predictions, expert analysis

Will Sovereignty run in the Preakness Stakes 2025? No, Sovereignty won’t run at Pimlico in the Preakness 2025. Sired by Into Mischief out of the Bernardini mare Crowned, Sovereignty captured graded-stakes wins in the Street Sense Stakes and Fountain of Youth Stakes before finishing second to Tappan Street in the Florida Derby. With Tappan Street out because of an injury, he went off as the second favorite (5-1) at Churchill Downs.

Sovereignty was squeezed inside out of the gates but jockey Junior Alvarado got him settled in along the rail. He was 13 1/2 lengths off the pace set by Citizen Bull in the backstretch, where he and Journalism began moving up through the field. The pair swung wide around the final turn and dueled down the homestretch, but Sovereignty pulled away in the final furlong for a 1 1/2-length win.

Demling just revealed his 2025 Preakness Stakes projections for Journalism, the Kentucky Derby favorite who finished a hard-fought second in the first leg of the Triple Crown. Journalism broke his maiden at Del Mar last November and then earned stakes wins at the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2), San Felipe Stakes (G2) and the Santa Anita Derby (G1) to establish himself as the early Derby favorite. However, he’d never run outside of California before and only faced a field larger than five horses once.

Ultimately, he didn’t appear impacted by the travel, but the deep closer found himself in an unfamiliar spot when he made his move late. Sovereignty matched him stride for stride around the final turn and then pulled away in the final furlong. See which other 2025 Preakness Stakes horses to avoid at SportsLine.

Demling has also locked in his 2025 Preakness Stakes picks for Wood Memorial winner Rodriguez, who was scratched from the Kentucky Derby because of a minor injury but is expected to return to the Triple Crown trail. Rodriguez seemed to be picking up momentum in the betting market with his odds lowering leading into the Kentucky Derby before his scratch, and being attached to Bob Baffert often has that power. Rodriguez was expected to be Baffert’s top horse at Churchill Downs, with Rodriguez winning two of five career races and never finishing worse than third.

The fact that Rodriguez didn’t run in the Kentucky Derby could be viewed as a positive or a negative. The positive is that he has additional rest by taking the final few days of the week off and not running at Churchill Downs, however, the fact that the rest was due to injury is concerning. The Preakness Stakes would be Rodriguez’s longest layoff (six weeks) since his first and second career races, so that creates another unknown entering his first Triple Crown competition. See whether you can trust Rodriguez at SportsLine.

One surprise: Demling is high on Clever Again, even though he’s a 10-1 longshot. He’s a target for anyone looking for a huge payday. Demling told SportsLine, “Clever Again is a son of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, Clever Again has only made three career starts, but he had a 101 speed figure and will be a contender in the Preakness.” See which horses to back at SportsLine now.

How to make 2025 Preakness Stakes picks, bets

Demling is especially high on a huge double-digit longshot who “could be a factor” and will spice up your exotics. Demling is sharing which horse it is, along with his entire projected 2025 Preakness Stakes leaderboard, over at SportsLine.

Which horse wins the Preakness Stakes 2025, and which huge double-digit longshot is a must-back? Check out the latest 2025 Preakness Stakes odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Demling’s picks for the Preakness Stakes, all from the expert who nailed the top three in correct order at the Kentucky Derby and nailed the last two Preakness trifectas.

2025 Preakness Stakes odds, post positions