Sandman received plenty of attention on social media leading up to the Kentucky Derby, but his results couldn't match the stardom his name generated as the Metallica-inspired horse finished seventh at Churchill Downs. Sandman will look for redemption at the 2025 Preakness Stakes on Saturday in a field less than half the size of the Kentucky Derby. Sandman, who has three victories in nine career starts, has the second-lowest 2025 Preakness Stakes odds behind Journalism, the 8-5 favorite in the latest 2025 Preakness Stakes odds. Should your 2025 Preakness Stakes bets include either of these favorites off their Kentucky Derby failures, or is a new horse ready to make a name for themselves on a Triple Crown stage? Post time is 7:01 p.m. ET. 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 to help you figure out how to bet the Preakness Stakes. 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 placed third in his first thoroughbred race, but has since won four of his last five starts. His lone blemish during that impressive stretch is a second-place showing at Churchill Downs.
Journalism has three stakes victories on his resume, including at the G1 Santa Anita Derby. He comes from a pedigree of proven winners. He is the son of Curlin, who ran often and won 11 of 16 career races, never finishing worse than fourth. However, Journalism is set to break from the No. 2 post on Saturday, which has only produced two winners in the last 50 years. See which other 2025 Preakness Stakes horses to avoid at SportsLine.
One surprise: Demling is high on Clever Again, even though he's a 5-1 longshot for anyone taking advantage of Preakness Stakes promo codes. Of his three starts, two resulted in victories, including his last one by taking down a Baffert horse. Clever Again won the Hot Spring (LS) at Oaklawn Park on March 30 for his second straight victory with Gaming, trained by Baffert, placing second. Gaming entered with a victory and second-place finish in Grade I stakes races as Clever Again proved he can take down more experienced and better-challenged horses.
Clever Again will be tasked with that challenge at a significantly more difficult level on Saturday in his first Grade I stakes race. Clever Again does have a lineage that's tough to match though as the son of American Pharoah, who was the 2015 Triple Crown champion. Jose Ortiz, who jockeyed Clever Again to both of his victories, will ride Clever Again on Saturday and Ortiz rode Early Voting to a Preakness Stakes victory in 2022. 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
| Post | Horse | Odds | Projection |
| 1 | Goal Oriented | 6-1 | SEE PICKS |
| 2 | Journalism | 8-5 | SEE PICKS |
| 3 | American Promise | 15-1 | SEE PICKS |
| 4 | Heart of Honor | 12-1 | SEE PICKS |
| 5 | Pay Billy | 20-1 | SEE PICKS |
| 6 | River Thames | 9-2 | SEE PICKS |
| 7 | Sandman | 4-1 | SEE PICKS |
| 8 | Clever Again | 5-1 | SEE PICKS |
| 9 | Gosger | 20-1 | SEE PICKS |
2025 Preakness Stakes horses, contenders, profiles
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
