Get to the Point

By Jimmy Harris

Horse racing grabs my attention this week for the second time this year when the second jewel of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, is set for the starting gates on Saturday.

According to almost everyone who cares enough to have an opinion, this is Big Brown's race to lose. After outpacing the rest of the field in the Derby by 4 ¾ lengths, the rest of the Derby field is evidently so scared to take on Big Brown again that they're not even taking part in the Preakness.

To be fair, Recapturetheglory was prepared to race in the Preakness before coming down with a fever. No doubt the fever was brought on by fear of watching Big Brown run past him again.

This is the first time in 60 years that only one participant from the Derby is taking part in the Preakness. Way back in 1948, Citation rumbled to a win in the Preakness and went on to win the Belmont Stakes as well, winning the Triple Crown in the process. There are tempting Triple Crown odds at BodogLife.com's online racebook and other shops on the web.

With the Preakness field looking kind of lame, Big Brown is a big -300 favorite at . Those aren't very good odds for anyone looking for some real profit. The horse garnering the best odds after Big Brown is Behindatthebar at +1200. I'll probably end up dropping a few bucks on Big Brown and also throw down some cash on an underdog like Behindatthebar or even Macho Again at +2000 in case of a profitable upset.

The most surprising odds are the Triple Crown odds over at . Since a horse hasn't won the Triple Crown in 30 years when Affirmed won in 1968, you would think that Big Brown winning the Triple Crown would be an underdog.

Nope! Right now Big Brown winning the Triple Crown is listed at -180, while Big Brown not winning the Triple Crown is listed at +140. Get some action down on the Preakness Stakes, we could be watching history unfold with Big Brown winning the Triple Crown.