Preakness Stakes Long Shots & Sleeper Picks Today: 3 Dark Horse Horses to Back Today at Pimlico Race Course

While 8-5 favorite Journalism is drawing plenty of betting attention ahead of today’s 150th running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course, there's value to be found elsewhere on the board.

We’ve scoured the 2025 Preakness Stakes odds and post position to uncover the top Preakness Stakes long shots with the potential to cash big tickets and deliver serious bragging rights.

With just nine horses in the field and a post time of 7:01 p.m. ET (NBC), our three best Preakness sleeper picks stand out as live underdogs ready to shake up the second jewel of the Triple Crown.

🐎 Preakness Stakes sleeper picks

Here are my favorite Preakness Stakes long-shot picks for the 2025 Race for the Black-Eyed Susans and their odds from FanDuel Racing.

💰River Thames (9-2)
💰Clever Again (5-1)
💰Goal Oriented (6-1)

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🚨My 3 best Preakness Stakes long-shot picks

🥇 River Thames (9-2)

We’re seeing a rare jewel in the second leg of the Triple Crown with this Maclean’s Music colt. Not as much for anything he’s done on the track to date, but for who’s setting the stone. That would be Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, who rarely runs his charges in the Preakness. He is 0-for-10 at Pimlico, hitting the board just once, recording a third-place finish with Impeachment 25 years ago.

That record includes an eighth-place finish with 2010 Derby winner Super Saver and a seventh with 2017 Derby champion Always Dreaming. Those two Derby winners marked the only time Pletcher ran a Derby horse in the Preakness.

Pletcher’s perpetual pain at Pimlico, however, didn’t dissuade him from skipping the Derby and sending River Thames to the Preakness - a message in and of itself. River Thames qualified for the Derby, courtesy of a neck loss to Derby winner Sovereignty in the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park in March and a three-quarters length third in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in April.

Putting aside for the moment the reflective aura of Sovereignty’s Derby victory to River Thames, those two victories displayed a versatile running style that plays very well in the Preakness. He took the lead coming around the far turn of the Fountain of Youth and held it until the final 30 yards. In the Blue Grass, River Thames stalked his way around the track and was just outkicked by Burnham Square at the wire.

That running style, solid results in two strong Derby preps, victories in his first two races (by a combined 11 1/4 lengths), and freshness at not running the Derby all make River Thames a must-use presence on your tickets. In case you need further coaxing, let history be your guide. River Thames will start from Post 6, the most successful Preakness post, one producing the most winners (17) in event history.

🥈 Clever Again (5-1)

While we’re talking about this colt as a long shot, we’re doing so in a whisper, because we’d like to keep this son of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah on the DL. The more you pay attention to his pacesetting running style, fresh status as a non-Derby runner and improvement in every race, the less chance we have of finding the value we seek here.

Feel free to focus on his light, three-race resume - and pay no attention to his two victories and a runner-up in those three starts. Don’t look at those two victories: a 3 1/4-length score in a 1 1/16-mile maiden race at Oaklawn Park and a four-length stroll in the Hot Springs Stakes at Oaklawn five weeks later. Ignore the fact he wired the field in that race, a field including Gaming, a Grade 1 winner trained by Bob Baffert.

Yes, pay attention to the fact trainer Steve Asmussen hasn’t won a Triple Crown race since Creator won the 2016 Belmont Stakes and don’t focus on the fact he’s trained two of the most iconic Preakness winners this century: Curlin (2007) and Rachel Alexandra (2009). Keep your eye on the big class leap Clever Again makes here and that he’ll battle Goal Oriented for the lead right out of the gate.

The more you focus on those flaws, the higher Clever Again’s odds rise - and the more value awaits us when he hits the board at a juicier price than 5-1.

🥉 Goal Oriented (6-1)

Here is the mirror image/doppelganger to Clever Again: a pacesetting colt with a light resume and a heavy dose of speed. This Not This Time progeny, however, comes with two of the most attention-grabbing words in horse racing - Bob Baffert. The Hall of Fame trainer owns a record eight Preakness titles, with No. 8 secured two years ago with National Treasure, another pacesetter who started on the rail.

With only two races on his CV, Goal Oriented doesn’t bring nearly the experience or resume National Treasure brought to Pimlico. He didn’t make his racing debut until April 6, when he captured a six-furlong sprint at Santa Anita Park. While that may not send you to the window, his 1 1/16-mile allowance-optional claiming score a month later on the Kentucky Derby undercard should.

That three-quarters of a length victory not only featured Goal Oriented holding off numerous rivals in the stretch, but came on a sloppy track. Weather reports indicate a 60% chance of rain for Saturday.

Flavien Prat, who won the 2021 Preakness aboard 11-1 Rombauer, takes the reins of a horse who brings the front-end speed all recent Preakness winners possess. With Journalism in the field and with his light resume, Goal Oriented may not make the Preakness his first stakes victory. And he will take plenty of value-draining money, courtesy of Baffert. But you get one of the top jockeys in the world piloting a horse who has won off the pace and setting the pace.

 And did we mention who his trainer was?

🌩️ Preakness Stakes weather

Today's weather at Pimlico Race Course looks generally favorable, despite fears that rain could impact things earlier in the week. Yesterday's storms brought about an inch of rain to the track.

Temperatures range from 70-88 F today in Baltimore, with a brief period of thunderstorms in the mid-afternoon. Unlike the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes on Friday, it looks like today's races shouldn't face delays.

🔮 Preakness Stakes expert picks

• Preakness Stakes odds and post position
• Preakness Stakes AI predictions
• Preakness Stakes long shots

📺 How to watch the Preakness Stakes

• When: Saturday, May 17
• Post time: 7:01 p.m. ET
• Where: Pimlico Race Course, Baltimore
• How to watch: NBC, beginning at 2 p.m. ET

🎟️ How to bet Preakness Stakes long shots

Unlike the Derby, where youn have a smorgasbord of double-digit colts to play and a seemingly infinite number of options constructing your exotic vertical tickets, the relatively small field of the Preakness tends to depress value. That’s because bettors are chasing that value with only nine horses at their disposal, putting money on your medium-priced sleepers (like the ones listed above). And you can generally eliminate two or three of those horses every year because they simply aren’t Triple Crown-quality.

That said, value does exist - even when the favorites run to their odds. That hasn’t happened since Justify secured the second jewel of his eventual Triple Crown in 2018. But even when low-priced colts prevail, building the perfect vertical ticket (exacta, trifecta, or superfecta) can pay for your next vacation.

Past Preakness Stakes exotic payouts

There are a veritable plethora of ways to bet those Preakness long shots. You can capitalize on the recent favorite-unfriendly trend with a straight win/place/show wager. The last six Preakness winners outran the favorite en route to the Black Eyed Susan wreath.

Recent Preakness Stakes long-shot winners

To get those eye-watering payouts we mentioned above, you need to dive deeper down the toteboard with an exotic wager. Those are multi-horse wagers that require you to pick the order of finish. Bet an exacta and you’re picking the two horses you think will finish first and second. Trifectas demand you pick the top three in order. Take it out one horse further and you get the superfecta–requiring you pick the top four in order.

There are two different ways to bet exactas, trifectas and superfectas: straight and box. A straight exacta means you pick the horse or horses you think will win, then the horse or horses you think will finish second underneath. Using our long shots as examples, River Thames over Clever Again and Goal Oriented. You win your bet if River Thames wins and either Clever Again or Goal Oriented finish second.

With a box wager, you throw all three on a ticket and if any combination finish first or second - in any order - you win the bet. It works the same for a trifecta or superfecta. For example, you like our three long shots, but you also like 8-5 favorite Journalism. You can box all four in a trifecta, and if three of the four hit the board in any order, you walk to the window.

A box wager offers flexibility, but that comes at a price. Understand the more horses you throw in a box, the more expensive the wager. A box wager is good for beginners and good if you like several horses, but aren’t quite sure on the order of finish.

🏇 Horse racing betting odds pages

💵 Best Preakness Stakes betting sites

Want to bet on the Preakness Stakes? Here are the best horse racing betting sites and the best sportsbook promos for Saturday's race:

• FanDuel Promo Code
• DraftKings Promo Code
• Hard Rock Bet Promo Code

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