2024 Preakness Stakes odds, best bets: Expert picks to win, exacta, trifecta, superfecta

And unfortunately, as a 5-2 favorite to win at Pimlico in the latest 2024 Preakness Stakes odds, Mystik Dan isn't showing value as a bet to win on Saturday — but he is part of our exotics. Instead, we're looking a bit further down the board for our pick to win the Preakness, with a couple horses with odds just a tad longer than Mystik Dan's at the top of our Preakness betting card.

Saturday's Preakness Stakes will start at 7:01 p.m. ET on NBC, which means the clock is ticking on placing your Preakness bets. So let's get to our 2024 Preakness Stakes preview.

For more on betting the horses on Saturday at Pimlico, check out 2024 Preakness Stakes Odds, Picks, Predictions for Saturday’s Races at Pimlico.

2024 Preakness Stakes Odds

Odds via TwinSpires.

2024 Preakness Stakes Best Bets

Pick to Win: No. 8 Tuscan Gold
Long Shot Pick to Win: No. 2 Uncle Heavy
Exactas: 8 | 9 and 9 | 8
Trifecta: 8 | 9 | 2,3,5
Superfecta: 8 | 9 | 2,3,5 | 2,3,5

2024 Preakness Stakes Pick to Win

No. 8 Tuscan Gold (8-1)

Conti: No. 8 Tuscan Gold is the least experienced horse in the race. He had a troubled trip in the Louisiana Derby, where he was four-wide going into the first turn, then started to make his move on the far turn, only to find himself surrounded by horses, forcing him to mildly check at the top of the stretch.

While he was able to regain his momentum and finish with interest, the closer already had gotten the jump on him (and, for what it's worth, one of those closers from that Louisiana Derby is in this race, the No. 3 Catching Freedom). But trainer Chad Brown has won the Preakness twice before in similar circumstances, with horses who could have been point towards the Kentucky Derby and instead took time off and prepped for the Preakness. And with that number eight post position in the Preakness, Tuscan Gold should be able to run a far cleaner race here.

With the scratch of Muth, I think Tuscan Gold will definitely come down some from the 8-1 on Saturday. But I think we probably will still get somewhere in the range of between 9-2 and 6-1 on this horse, and that's going to be our best bet.

2024 Preakness Stakes Long Shot to Win

No. 2 Uncle Heavy (20-1)

Conti: The long shot in here that I like is the No. 2 Uncle Heavy. The horse would need to take a pretty big step forward from a Beyer speed figure perspective, but there are a couple of things that I like about the horse at 20-1. Two of the horse's three lifetime wins were on an "off" track, including one that was rather muddy, and it appears that we're going to have rain on Saturday, which moves Uncle Heavy up for me.

The other aspect is the jockey, Irad Ortiz Jr., arguably the best jockey in North America, one of the top jockeys in the world. He doesn't get this call unless this is a horse who his trainer believes truly has a chance in here. So for those two reasons, he's going to be my long shot play.

2024 Preakness Stakes Exacta

No. 8 Tuscan Gold over No. 9 Imagination (8 | 9); No. 9 Imagination over No. 8 Tuscan Gold (9 | 8)

Zerillo:  Instead of playing an exacta box with the No. 8 Tuscan Gold and No. 9 Imagination, I'm going to play two exactas: one with the eight over nine, the other the nine over eight. And I'll probably weight the tickets a little bit more heavily toward that cold eight-nine exacta with Tuscan Gold winning and Imagination finishing second.

I just want another ticket with Imagination beating Tuscan Gold, in the event that happens; I don't just want to weight it equally to the eight-nine ticket, though. So I'll probably weight it at half the wager as I would the eight-nine ticket.

2024 Preakness Stakes Trifecta

No. 8 Tuscan Gold over No. 9 Imagination over No. 2 Uncle Heavy, No. 3 Catching Freedom, and No. 5 Mystik Dan (8 | 9 | 2,3,5)

Conti: So, I really like Tuscan Gold on top and Imagination behind, like Sean. With Imagination, the horse has done virtually nothing wrong in his career: Bob Baffert trainee, six career starts, two wins, four lifetime seconds. And of those four seconds, three of them were by a neck. That just raises the question: Does the horse like to win when he's met eyeball to eyeball with another horse?

Which is why my trifecta will be built around my straight exacta of No. 8 Tuscan Gold over No. 9 Imagination, and then in the third place spot, I will include my long-shot play, which is No. 2 Uncle Heavy. I'll also include No. 3 Catching Freedom, and I will also be including the Kentucky Derby winner, No. 5 Mystik Dan.

2024 Preakness Stakes Superfecta

No. 8 Tuscan Gold over No. 9 Imagination over No. 2 Uncle Heavy, No. 3 Catching Freedom, and No. 5 Mystik Dan over No. 2 Uncle Heavy, No. 3 Catching Freedom, and No. 5 Mystik Dan (8 | 9 | 2,3,5 | 2,3,5)

Conti: If you're looking for a superfecta lottery ticket for Saturday — and it wouldn't be horse racing and the Triple Crown without one! — we can build off of our trifecta and play the same horses in the fourth spot that we are in the third spot.

I'll be playing this one alongside you all on Saturday, so, with apologies to Mystik Dan's Triple Crown aspirations, let's hope we can get lucky and cash the big one.

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