1/ST debuted its Preakness Future Wager last year, and the informative ante-post pool is back for its second season.
As the owner of Pimlico racecourse, 1/ST is reopening its next Preakness 149 Future Wager market this week until 4th May, closing just moments before the running of the Kentucky Derby itself.
The Preakness is scheduled for 18th May. The final leg, the156th Belmont Stakes will be run on Saturday 8th June at Saratoga Race Course.
The purse for the Preakness Stakes will increase to $2M, up from $1.5M in 2023, and it will become part of a new three-leg series with a potential bonus payout of $5M, designed to increase the appeal of Maryland's signature race.
With little apparent support for a revamped Triple Crown calendar that would add time between the Derby and Preakness and therefore increase the opportunities to be able to crown more regular Triple Crown champions, 1/ST is striking out to try something that boosts the sport in another way. A $5M bonus is being dangled for any horse that wins the Preakness, the new California Crown Stakes at Santa Anita Park on 28th September and then the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park in Florida on 28th January, 2025.
1/ST CEO Belinda Stronach described the new race series at her company's tracks as an attempt at "modernization" for the tradition-bound sport. In addition to boosting the Preakness purse, 1/ST Racing plans to increase the purse for the Dinner Party Stakes, the top turf race on the Preakness undercard, from $200,000 to $500,000.
