Medina Spirit Now The Favorite To Win The Preakness Stakes

• After winning the Kentucky Derby, Medina Spirit is listed at +400 to win the Preakness Stakes.
• Medina Spirit closed at +1200 in the Kentucky Derby.
• Concert Tour (+500), Essential Quality (+600) and Hot Rod Charlie (+700) all listed as well.

BALTIMORE – Just a couple days after winning the Kentucky Derby, Medina Spirit is already being pegged as the favorite to win the Preakness Stakes.

Despite the entire field being unconfirmed at this point, MyBookie has released odds on the upcoming race.

Medina Spirit Is The Odds On Favorite

Medina Spirit closed with +1200 odds at the Kentucky Derby and was able to neck out a win over Mandaloun. Now, Bob Baffert’s Triple Crown hopeful is being listed as a +400 favorite in the Preakness Stakes.

Prior to the Kentucky Derby, Medina Spirit was arguably Baffert’s third-best horse. Now, just a couple of days later, he’s the favorite over Concert Tour who was considered to be Baffert’s best horse.

Essential Quality, a sizable favorite in the Kentucky Derby, is now the third choice in the Preakness with +600 odds after finishing fourth in the Derby.

Baffert’s Magic

Baffert won his seventh Kentucky Derby with Medina Spirit and will be looking to win his eighth Preakness Stakes with either Medina Spirit or Concert Tour. Baffert has won both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes four times in his career.

While the odds (and horse entries) are subject to change, he has the two favorites in the race at this moment.

Way Too Early Odds Breakdown

Medina Spirit at +400 is an interesting line. As the Derby winner, obviously he’ll have shorter odds than he did on Saturday, but is this too short? As mentioned, Medina Spirit isn’t even regarded as Baffert’s best horse.

Further, many consider Essential Quality to still be the best horse despite the fourth-place finish.

In horse racing, even though you can get the favorite at good odds, it’s popular to try and beat the favorite. It seems like the odds are overreacting to the Kentucky Derby results and that Medina Spirit should not be the favorite in the Preakness Stakes.

Essential Quality, who would be an enticing betting option at +600, could potentially not race in the Preakness according to his trainer Brad Cox.

“No commitments,” said Cox. “I love the Preakness. It’s probably one of the great weekends of the year. We’ll definitely have horses throughout the undercard, but we don’t know if we’ll take some horses to the Preakness.”

Again, it’s unconfirmed who will be participating in the Preakness Stakes, but horse racing betting sites are tempting horse racing bettors to go against the favorite.

How to Watch

The Preakness Stakes will take place on May 15 and is set to start around 6:45 p.m. EST. Coverage will be live on NBC.

News tags: Bob Baffert | Brad Cox | Caddo River | Concert Tour | Crowded Trade | Essential Quality | France Go De Ina | Get Her Number | Helium | Horse Racing | Hot Rod Charlie | Kentucky Derby | King Fury | Mandaloun | Medina Spirit | O Besos | Preakness Stakes | Rombauer | Tarantino | Triple Crown