The middle jewel of horse racing’s Triple Crown is on the horizon, with Pimlico Race Course hosting the 2025 Preakness Stakes on Saturday, May 17. Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty will not be in the 2025 Preakness Stakes field, making him the fourth of the last seven Derby winners to skip the Preakness. The 2025 Preakness Stakes post draw will take place on Monday at 6 p.m. ET. Journalism is the 5-2 favorite, according to the 2025 Preakness Stakes odds. Sandman, who finished seventh in the Kentucky Derby, is next at 7-2 among the 2025 Preakness Stakes horses. 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 may not have won the Kentucky Derby, but he’ll still be confident heading into the Preakness Stakes 2025.

Journalism has won four of his last five starts and has never finished worse than third in his career. He is the son of Curlin, who ran often and won 11 of 16 career races, never finishing worse than fourth. Curlin won the Preakness Stakes in 2007 and Journalism will look to follow in his footsteps at Pimlico. See which other 2025 Preakness Stakes horses to avoid at SportsLine.

One surprise: Demling is high on Clever Again, even though he’s an 8-1 longshot. He’s a target for anyone looking for a huge payday. Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen was able to work Clever Again on Tuesday at Churchill Downs after a three-day delay due to track conditions. The son of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah worked five-eighths of a mile with jockey Jose Ortiz aboard.

Clever Again finished second last April in his lone start of his 2-year-old season, as an injury forced him to miss the rest of the year. He returned to the track at Oaklawn Park in February to break his maiden, and he added a front-running four-length victory in the Hot Springs Stakes in March. While his inexperience could be viewed as a negative, Demling likes Clever Again’s high ceiling at long odds. 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