2024 Preakness Stakes Odds, Picks, Predictions for Saturday’s Triple Crown Race

The 149th Preakness Stakes is today, and that means you're probably in the market for the latest 2024 Preakness Stakes odds as well as picks and predictions for Saturday's Triple Crown race at Pimlico.

There's rain in the forecast as we look ahead to Saturday's main event, and the favorite, Muth, has been scratched due to illness. As a result of Muth's scratch, the 2024 Kentucky Derby winner, Mystik Dan, is the new favorite to win this year's Preakness.

Can Mystik Dan take the second leg of the Triple Crown and set himself up for horse racing history? Two of our top horse racing experts, Sean Zerillo and Mike Conti, talked through their Preakness Stakes picks and predictions shortly after the news of Muth's scratch. So let's get to the updated Preakness Stakes odds and their best bets to win.

2024 Preakness Stakes Picks, Predictions to Win:

No. 8 Tuscan Gold
No. 9 Imagination

Mike Conti: I'm going to No. 8 as my top selection, Tuscan Gold, a Chad Brown horse. Brown has won this race twice in recent history.

That's crucial, as Tuscan Gold is the least experienced horse in the race. He only has three career starts. The last time out was in the Louisiana Derby, and if you go back and watch that race, he had a pretty troubled trip. He was four wide, and then, as he started to make his move on the far turn, he gets surrounded by other horses, and he was forced to mildly check at the top of the stretch by being behind some of the other pace horses in that race. By the time he was able to regain his momentum and finish with some interest, the other closers, Catching Freedom and Honor Marie, had already gotten a jump on him.

With that number eight post position in the Preakness, though, he should be able to sit a far cleaner trip here. And Chad Brown has this horse primed and ready. You also look at the big Beyer speed figure jump from Tuscan Gold's second start to his third start, and even looking back from the first start at three to the Louisiana Derby start. It's not improbable to assume that this horse is going to take another step forward.

Tuscan Gold was 8-1 on the morning line, and with the scratch of Muth, I think he will definitely come down some. But I think we probably will still get somewhere in the range of between 9-2 and 6-1 on this horse. So he's going to be my top selection here.

Sean Zerillo: I do like Tuscan Gold, too. He followed the same exact path that Chad Brown took with Cloud Computing and Early Voting: fourth lifetime start, coming off either placing or showing in a Kentucky Derby prep, skipping the Derby, going straight to the Preakness as a new shooter, fully fresh. It seems like he will run a career-best race on Saturday, so I absolutely do like the No. 8.

But with Muth scratching, I do have to move up his stablemate, the No. 9 Imagination, as well. He was a heavy favorite in the Santa Anita Derby, and he will probably be the lone pace horse in this race. And I think he can get away on a loose lead potentially if nobody presses him. So, given the pace scenario, I definitely want to be using the No. 9 Imagination as one of my win contenders.

Will Mystik Dan win the 2024 Preakness Stakes after winning the Derby?

Zerillo: I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the Derby winner, No. 5 Mystik Dan, who almost seems like a potentially underrated Derby winner at this point.

But Mystic Dan did a lot of good work in the Derby, other than just getting that dream rail trip from his jockey. He was both fast and close to the fast pace, running sixth going around the far turn, and basically, all the other horses who were around him or near him ended up dropping back, and there was essentially a pace meltdown because the winners did come from further back in the pack. And he didn't falter.

So I do like Mystik Dan in this race, particularly if it's going to rain on Saturday or over the weekend at Pimlico. His best career race came in the mud, and then at Churchill Downs a couple of Saturdays ago was after a Friday where it rained all day. So I think Mystik Dan's form certainly picks up if it's going to be a little wet or a little bit softer on that dirt.

But my top two win contenders are the No. 8 Tuscan Gold and the No. 9 Imagination.

2024 Preakness Stakes Picks: No. 8 Tuscan Gold, No. 9 Imagination