{"id":214724,"date":"2022-05-23T14:43:28","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T21:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=214724"},"modified":"2022-05-23T16:14:22","modified_gmt":"2022-05-23T23:14:22","slug":"preakness-handle-down-from-2021-belmont-unlikely-for-early-voting-epicenter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/preakness-handle-down-from-2021-belmont-unlikely-for-early-voting-epicenter\/","title":{"rendered":"Preakness Handle Down from 2021; Belmont Unlikely for Early Voting, Epicenter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Betting on Saturday\u2019s Preakness Stakes dropped by 5% from a record 2021, according to figures published by Pimlico Race Course.<\/p>\n

\"Early<\/a>
Early Voting, with jockey Jose Ortiz aboard, wins Saturday’s Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. Betting for the race, the second jewel in thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown, was down about 5% from last year. (Image: Preakness Stakes\/Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All-sources wagering on the second jewel of the Triple Crown totaled $65.3 million. That\u2019s down from the $68.7 million bet last year.<\/p>\n

\n

This year\u2019s race did not include the Kentucky Derby winner, as Rich Strike<\/a>\u2019s connections opted to prepare the colt for the Belmont Stakes next month. Last year\u2019s race featured Medina Spirit, who was awarded the garland of roses after last year\u2019s Kentucky Derby, but then failed a post-race drug test. Medina Spirit, who died during training last December, was eventually disqualified as the Derby winner earlier this year and his trainer, Bob Baffert, was suspended by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Early Voting won Saturday\u2019s race, holding off post-time favorite Epicenter by a length and a quarter. The Chad Brown-trained horse went off at 5-1 odds and paid $13.40 to win.<\/p>\n

All-Day Wagering Down by Nearly $9M<\/h2>\n

Betting on the day\u2019s 14-race card also fell from 2021, according to the Baltimore track. On Saturday, Pimlico reported a handle of $104.3 million. That\u2019s off by 8% from the record-setting $113.4 million bet<\/a> on last year\u2019s 14-race Preakness Day card.<\/p>\n

The decrease at Pimlico comes after Churchill Downs posted record-breaking handles for the Kentucky Derby, the Derby Day card, and races for the first week of its spring meet. Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., also posted record handles for its spring meet held last month. In addition, Aqueduct in New York saw its spring meet handle jump up 35.5% from its 2021 meet, and its 21-22 winter meet saw wagering go up by 2.5%.<\/p>\n

Who’s Likely for the Belmont?<\/h2>\n

While Rich Strike gets ready for the June 11 Belmont, the top two finishers from the Preakness aren\u2019t training for that race.<\/p>\n

Early Voting did shuttle up to Belmont Park, the Long Island track that serves as Brown\u2019s main stable. However, Brown said Sunday that the 1-1\/2-mile Belmont Stakes isn\u2019t in the cards for his colt and that the horse\u2019s next race remains to be determined.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s only run four times and he’s done everything we asked him to do,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

While Early Voting had more than enough points to run in the Kentucky Derby, Brown and owner Seth Klarman opted to keep him out of that race and prep him for the Preakness.<\/p>\n

For Epicenter, it marked the second straight time he finished second, much to the chagrin of his trainer, Steve Asmussen. Asmussen\u2019s top assistant, Scott Blasi, said Sunday that Epicenter looked good on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Owner Ron Winchell<\/a> said it\u2019s \u201ca stretch\u201d to bring him back in three weeks for the Belmont. After the Kentucky Derby loss, Winchell said the goal was to make Epicenter<\/a> the 3-year-old champion at year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s still possible, even without a win in a Triple Crown race. They could point the Louisiana Derby winner to either the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on July 23 or the Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 27.<\/p>\n

He had six weeks between the Louisiana Derby and the (Kentucky) Derby, and that did him well,\u201d<\/strong> Winchell said. \u201cI think there might have been five weeks between the Risen Star and the Louisiana Derby, and that did him well. Just looking at how he came back fresh, that seems to be the recipe at the moment.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Creative Minister, who finished third in his graded stakes debut, would likely run in the Belmont, trainer Kenny McPeek said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Betting on Saturday\u2019s Preakness Stakes dropped by 5% from a record 2021, according to figures published by Pimlico Race Course. All-sources wagering on the second jewel of the Triple Crown totaled $65.3 million. That\u2019s down from the $68.7 million bet last year. This year\u2019s race did not include the Kentucky Derby winner, as Rich Strike\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":214725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14577,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPreakness Handle Down from Record Setting 2021<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The race likely saw diminished interest after Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike was held out and pointed for next month's Belmont Stakes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/preakness-handle-down-from-2021-belmont-unlikely-for-early-voting-epicenter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Preakness Handle Down from Record Setting 2021\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The race likely saw diminished interest after Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike was held out and pointed for next month's Belmont Stakes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/preakness-handle-down-from-2021-belmont-unlikely-for-early-voting-epicenter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-23T21:43:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-23T23:14:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Early-Voting_Preakness.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/preakness-handle-down-from-2021-belmont-unlikely-for-early-voting-epicenter\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/preakness-handle-down-from-2021-belmont-unlikely-for-early-voting-epicenter\/\",\"name\":\"Preakness Handle Down from Record Setting 2021\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/preakness-handle-down-from-2021-belmont-unlikely-for-early-voting-epicenter\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/preakness-handle-down-from-2021-belmont-unlikely-for-early-voting-epicenter\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Early-Voting_Preakness.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-23T21:43:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-23T23:14:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"The race likely saw diminished interest after Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike was held out and pointed for next month's Belmont Stakes\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/preakness-handle-down-from-2021-belmont-unlikely-for-early-voting-epicenter\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/preakness-handle-down-from-2021-belmont-unlikely-for-early-voting-epicenter\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/preakness-handle-down-from-2021-belmont-unlikely-for-early-voting-epicenter\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Early-Voting_Preakness.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Early-Voting_Preakness.jpg\",\"width\":1850,\"height\":1400,\"caption\":\"Early Voting, with jockey Jose Ortiz aboard, wins Saturday's Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. 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