Preakness Payouts and Purses

The second Triple Crown race, the Preakness Stakes, is upon us: Saturday, May 16, two weeks after the Kentucky Derby. However, with Pimlico Race Course under construction, the festivities on the third Saturday in May will be run at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland. Not to worry, though – it will still be run at 1 3/16 miles, the traditional distance for the Preakness Stakes.

The Preakness distance is one of the great challenges of Thoroughbred racing: longer than most horses have ever run, and even for the horses who ran the 1 ¼-mile Kentucky Derby, coming back in two weeks to run another Classic-distance race is hard work. But, the spoils are big: a $2 million purse for the connections, and hefty payouts for horseplayers who bet the right runners.

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Preakness Stakes Betting Payouts

Though the Preakness has a reputation for being friendly to favorites, long shots can still win the second jewel of the Triple Crown. Just two years ago, Seize the Grey won at odds of almost 10-1. Coming out of the Pat Day Mile (G2), a race on the undercard of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, Seize the Grey was the third-longest shot in the eight-horse field. He skipped right over the mud in Baltimore, leading at every call and upsetting Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan. Anyone who backed Seize the Grey in the 2024 Preakness Stakes was rewarded to the tune of $21.60.

Recent Preakness Stakes Payout Trends

Through most of the 2000s, the signature race at Pimlico Race Course came back quite chalky, with only two horses paying double digits between 2000 and 2009: Red Bullet and Bernardini. However, in recent years, the race has become more lucrative from a betting perspective. In the last nine years, six horses have paid double digits, with four of them paying over $20 to win. The 2025 Preakness Stakes almost had another long shot winner – 15-1 shot Gosger was five lengths clear at the furlong mark, and it took a heroic late run from even-money Journalism to reel him in.

It makes sense: with a trend away from Kentucky Derby competitors winning the Preakness, and the proverbial “new shooters” becoming more important, the winners of the middle jewel of the Triple Crown are less familiar to casual bettors. Many of these recent pricey winners made sense from a handicapping perspective: Cloud Computing and Early Voting were later bloomers being brought along more gradually by Chad Brown, Rombauer earned his bid in the El Camino Real Derby and got a well-intended prep in the Blue Grass, and even Seize the Grey was an in-form horse stretching out for D. Wayne Lukas, the most successful Preakness trainer of all time.

Recent Preakness Stakes Results: Win Payouts

These are the payouts for Preakness winners since 2000:

Preakness Stakes Exacta Payouts

Even when a favorite wins the Preakness Stakes, a great way to cash a bigger ticket is to play an exotic. If there is a favorite or second-favorite who you think is the goods, a great way to make money in the Preakness can be to key them with others you think have a shot.

This can even pay big with an obvious horse like a Kentucky Derby winner on the win end. For example, Derby winner War Emblem over long shot Magic Weisner paid $327.00 for a $2 exacta in 2002. In 2015, the exacta of odds-on American Pharoah over Tale of Verve still paid $124.40 despite the winner’s short price.

These are the exacta finishers and payouts in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course since the year 2000:

Highest Preakness Stakes Payouts

Though there has never been a triple-digit winner like Donerail or Rich Strike in the Kentucky Derby or like Sarava or Sherluck in the Belmont Stakes, there are still some big prices who have won the second jewel of the Triple Crown.

These are the ten longest shots to win the Preakness Stakes:

Heaviest Favorites to Win the Preakness

Out of 150 editions of the Preakness Stakes – including two divisions in 1918 – 73 favorites have won, meaning favorites win almost half the time. Odds-on favorites have done well, but haven’t been can’t-miss bets: 28 horses have started at odds of less than even money, with 18 of these odds-on favorites winning.

These are the ten shortest-priced winners of the Preakness Stakes:

Unsurprisingly, horses who go on to sweep all three Triple Crown races tend to go off at very short prices in the Preakness Stakes. Seven of the ten shortest-priced visitors to the winners’ circle swept the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes.

Preakness Stakes Purses

Of course, the money in the Preakness Stakes does not only come at the betting windows. If you’re lucky enough to own a horse good enough to race at the top level of horse racing, the spoils are rich: the purse for the second jewel of the Triple Crown sits at a cool $2 million. $1.2 million of that sum goes to the winner, with $400,000 to the runner-up, $220,000 for third place, $120,000 for fourth, and $60,000 for fifth. Just as with the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, there is no purse paid to horses who finish below fifth place.

The purse has skyrocketed since the first Preakness, all the way back in 1873, which offered a purse of $2,050 in a race named after the horse who won the Dinner Party Stakes at the racetrack’s opening earlier that year. The purse for the Preakness has been in seven-figure territory since 1998. Its current $2 million purse has been in place since 2024.

What are the Preakness best bets and picks for 2026?

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.