Exacta a good bet in the 2019 Preakness

Although the post-time favorite recently went on a long and unprecedented winning streak in the Kentucky Derby (G1) (2013-18), the Preakness (G1) is generally considered the more formful of the three Triple Crown events, at least with respect to how the race is bet. Since 1975, the post-time favorite has won the Preakness 18 times in 44 runnings (41 percent), which is an above-average rate for winning favorites. Favorites also ran second 13 times during that span, so the public choice has finished first or second in 70 percent of the Preaknesses run since the first full year of the Ford administration. Why arbitrarily pick 1975? That was the first year Exacta wagering was offered in the Preakness. And even with the post-time favorite playing such a predominant role, the Exacta still seems one of the better ways to make money on the race. Occasionally, the top two betting choices both show up in the Preakness and the result is a miserly Exacta payoff. Examples include Affirmed-Alydar (even-money), Sunday Silence-Easy Goer (4-1), Summer Squall-Unbridled (5-1), Real Quiet-Victory Gallop (6-1), and I'll Have Another-Bodemeister (8-1). Others have paid slightly better. Curlin-Street Sense paid off at 10-1, while Pleasant Colony-Bold Ego and Red Bullet-Fusaichi Pegasus were both 11-1 propositions. However, those outcomes have been in a minority. More often when the favorite wins, a longer shot rallies to crash the Exacta. If you're in love with the favorite on Saturday, some of these historical payouts since 1990 might whet your appetite for diving into the Exacta pool.

Year	Winning Favorite	Runner-up	Runner-up odds	Exacta payoff
2018	Justify	Bravazo	15-1	$27.40
2015	American Pharoah	Tale of Verve	28-1	$124.40
2009	Rachel Alexandra	Mine That Bird	6-1	$39.20
2008	Big Brown	Macho Again	39-1	$36.60
2005	Afleet Alex	Scrappy T	13-1	$152.60
2004	Smarty Jones	Rock Hard Ten	6-1	$24.60
2003	Funny Cide	Midway Road	20-1	$120.60
2002	War Emblem	Magic Weisner	45-1	$327.00
2001	Point Given	A P Valentine	10-1	$81.40
1995	Timber Country	Oliver's Twist	25-1	$266.00
1993	Prairie Bayou	Cherokee Run	9-1	$69.00
1992	Pine Bluff	Alydeed	5-1	$66.80

Keep in mind some of the smaller payoffs involved odds-on favorites (e.g. Justify, Big Brown, and Smarty Jones). The expected favorite on Saturday, Improbable, is highly unlikely to be backed so heavily. Of course, if you don't like the betting favorite at all on Saturday, the potential for a bigger payoff in the pool will be much greater. The bottom line is that just because the betting favorite generally runs true to form in the Preakness, there's often a double-digit odds payoff waiting to be hit in the most popular of exotics pools. PHOTO: Justify, with Mike Smith aboard, wins the Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico on May 19, 2018 (c) Horsephotos.com/Cecilia Gustavsson