Preakness Stakes 2025 odds, picks: Sovereignty, Journalism, Clever Again predictions from horse racing expert

For the seventh year in a row, there won’t be a Triple Crown winner in American horse racing after Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty wasn’t entered into the 2025 Preakness Stakes on Saturday, May 17. Trainer Bill Mott opted not to have his prized three-year-old make the two-week turnaround and will instead target the Belmont Stakes on June 7. No decision has been made yet on whether Kentucky Derby runner-up Journalism or third-place finisher Baeza will enter the 2025 Preakness Stakes field. However, the middle jewel of the Triple Crown still has a $2 million purse and there are expected to be a handful of Kentucky Derby runners and newcomers to the trail to provide the speed at Pimlico Race Course.

Post time is scheduled for 6:50 p.m. ET and Journalism is now the 4-5 favorite in the 2025 Preakness Stakes odds, followed by Goal Oriented at 5-1. 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 and TwinSpires 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.

One surprise: Demling is high on Clever Again, even though he’s a 6-1 longshot. He’s a target for anyone looking for a huge payday. Sired by the legendary American Pharoah, who became the first horse in history to win the American grand slam in 2015, Clever Again debuted in a 4 1/2-furlong sprint at Keeneland last April but disappeared from the Derby trail entirely. He resurfaced to break his maiden at Oaklawn Park in February and then beat a G1 winner (Gaming, 2024 Del Mar Futurity) in the Hot Springs Stakes.

Clever Again went wire-to-wire in that victory and trainer Steve Asmussen has put him on par with stablemates Publisher, Tiztastic (both Derby runners) and Magnitude (Risen Star Stakes winner). Asmussen won the Preakness Stakes in 2007 with Curlin and then again in 2009 with Rachel Alexandra, and both of those horses went on to win horse of the year. Clever Again also breezed five-eighths of a mile in 1:00.40 while prepping for the Preakness Stakes late last month and Asmussen thinks his cruising speed will make him a serious contender at Pimlico. See which horses to back at SportsLine now.

How to make 2025 Preakness Stakes picks, bets

Demling is especially high on a huge 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 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