
While there’s a lengthy road to qualifying for the Kentucky Derby, there is a win-and-you’re-in race that locked up one horse’s spot in the 2025 Preakness Stakes field. The Federico Tesio Stakes at Laurel Park is that race, and Pay Billy took it to punch his ticket into the Preakness Stakes 2025 on Saturday at 7:01 p.m. ET. Laurel Park is just 30 miles from Pimlico Race Course, and each of Pay Billy’s last six starts have come at the former. Thus, he’s a local favorite for “The Run for the Black-Eyed Susans,” even though he is among the biggest of 2025 Preakness Stakes longshots. At 20-1, Pay Billy is tied with Gosger for the longest 2025 Preakness Stakes odds.
Gosger doesn’t have any local ties, but he does have a graded stakes win in his last start, a feat no other horse in the Preakness 2025 field can say. The top of the 2025 Preakness Stakes betting odds features Kentucky Derby runner-up Journalism (8-5). Before making any 2025 Preakness Stakes picks, you’ll want to see what SportsLine horse racing expert Tim Doyle has to say before making any 2025 Preakness Stakes picks or horse racing predictions.
Doyle is an experienced horse bettor, having lived less than 20 miles from both Belmont Park and Aqueduct Racetrack in New York. He prefers to play multirace wagers, from doubles to Pick 6s. And in 2020, he had the biggest score of his life, hitting a $150,000 Pick 5 at Oaklawn Park. During the 2023 Triple Crown, Doyle was on fire. He correctly called 15-1 longshot Mage to win the Kentucky Derby and 8-1 longshot Arcangelo to win the Belmont Stakes. Anyone who has followed him on betting apps like FanDuel Racing, TwinSpires and 1/ST BET could have been way up.
For the Preakness Stakes, Doyle has handicapped the 2025 Preakness Stakes field, made his picks and constructed his best bets for how to bet on the Preakness Stakes 2025. You can head to SportsLine now to see them.
Top 2025 Preakness Stakes predictions
One of Doyle’s surprising 2025 Preakness Stakes picks: He is fading Sandman, even though he has the second-shortest odds at 4-1. The horse is the lone closer in the Preakness field, and that running style failed him at the Kentucky Derby. While he executed as planned, he didn’t have enough in the tank to make up ground and finished 12 1/2 lengths back of the winner. Even with a smaller Preakness field, Doyle doesn’t see his running style leading to a much different result, saying, “he will be too far back to win this race.”
The horse had Jose Ortiz riding him in Kentucky and in his Arkansas Derby victory prior to that. However, Ortiz left the horse for the Preakness to instead get aboard Clever Again, who is a bigger longshot than Sandman. That could give you some insight on how the jockey feels about Sandman’s chances at Pimlico, as Sandman has just one victory across six graded stakes races. Considering his such short odds, there are far better options to target with horse racing bets. See which 2025 Preakness Stakes horses he likes at SportsLine.
How to make 2025 Preakness Stakes bets, picks
Instead of playing Sandman, Doyle is high on a double-digit longshot whose trainer thinks “could run big.” He also likes another horse outside the top-three favorites to climb into the money. Doyle is sharing who he likes over at SportsLine.
Which horse wins the Preakness Stakes 2025, and which double-digit longshot is a must-back? Check out the latest 2025 Preakness Stakes odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Doyle’s picks for the Preakness Stakes, all from the expert who called Mage as a 15-1 live longshot in the 2023 Run for the Roses.
2025 Preakness Stakes horses, odds
2025 Preakness Stakes horses, lineup
Preakness Stakes profiles 1 Goal Oriented | 2 Journalism | 3 American Promise | 4 Heart of Honor | 5 Pay Billy | 6 River Thames | 7 Sandman | 8 Clever Again | 9 Gosger
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