Get Arlington Grid here

Download Belmont Grid Right Here

Mission Impazible heads the Pimlico Special field flashing the best set of speed and pace figures and will be the favorite. However, improving Cherokee Artist also boasts a top EP rating and the best PF last out, and a 15-1 ML. Late running Hymn Book and mid- pack Alternation are at 4-1. 2011 Kentucky Derby runner up Nehro who skipped last year’s Preakness offers value at 8-1.

The Black Eyed Susan has almost been conceded to Baffert’s Mamma Kimbo with the highest EP, power, and PF and a 6-5 ML. Chad Brown’s Welcome Guest and Pletcher’s In Lingerie and Disposablepleasure (a great pair of names there) will try to make a race out of it. Others appear to be in too deep.

The full card at Pimlico includes some other listed stakes of $100k each with nice competitive fields. With sunny skies and mild temperatures forecasted, it should be a great racing day for all.

Download Pimlico Special Black Eyed Susan picks here

Click here to download full day race grid for Preakness.

There are two files here, the first is the Grid I used to handicap the Preakness.

See Preakness 2011 Grid here.

Note that the 13-1 winner Shackleford was the Grid’s top ranked horse in terms of power and speed, similar to this year’s Bodemeister. The difference is, last year people forgot that Shack finished 4th, not 14th in the Derby, and he went off at great odds.

This year nobody will forget Bode’s outstanding 2nd place effort in the Derby, and you won’t get more than 3-1 on him.

Preakness 2011 Results Chart

Note also that obvious favorite Animal Kingdom who was coming off the top Performance Figure of any in the field from his astounding Derby performance, finished second.

In third was Astrology, an “outsider” in his first Triple Crown Race, who was actually 4th in EP and coming off a couple of strong preps and final 1/4.

In 4th was 2nd betting choice Dialed In, coming off of a disappointing 8th place Derby finish but the undisputed top late runner in the field. Unfortunately he ran too late in this one.

What we have just described above is the anatomy of perfect Preakness bet. This type of strategy works almost every year.

Several of the top 4 Derby finishers run in this every year. Key them in spots 1 and 2 and 1 and 3 in separate trifecta tickets. Find a nice improving “outsider” long shot, almost always at odds of 12-1 to 15-1.

For a superfecta ticket, use some of the Derby horses again in the 4th spot. We can go back many years and show that two of the top Derby horses finish 1 and 2 or 1 and 3 in this race.

Occasionally and outsider wins the Preakness but only in freak occurrences such as Barbaro breaking down. That will not happen this year because the outsiders are not strong enough and it looks like 4 of the Derby top 5 will be running.

This year, you know who these horses will be, if they are all running. Who else will you use as an outsider to complete your trifecta and superfecta tickets? The Derby 4 are unlikely to sweep the super, because that seldom happens.

To find out who the good long shots and key horses are, you will have to get this year’s Preakness Grid.

Download 2012 Preakness Grid Here

Download Woodbine Selene Grid

Download Belmont Peter Pan Grid

Grab Derby Trial Grid here

Of note: All but 2 of the Ky Derby winners during the 15 year span from 1997-2011 finished 1st or 2nd in their final prep (those 2 were 4th). And, only 3 of them had a final prep outside of the Big 5 G1′s (Fla, SA, Wood, BG, Ark).

It also shows that not only has the Illinois Derby become irrelevant, hence its demotion to a G3, but also the Wood has lost much relevance since the Funny Cide/ Empire Maker fiasco of 2003.

The Santa Anita is starting to border irrelevance as well as the CA circuit continues to draw fewer horses due to horseshit regulation.

See the grid of winners and runners up right here

So in conclusion, despite a couple recent weird occurrences in the last few years with the Spiral and Sunland, there is still over a 90% probability that the winner of this year’s Derby will be from the top 2 in one of the Big 5, so that narrows down half the field.