A futures-styled pari-mutuel wager to pick the winner of the GI Preakness S. before the GI Kentucky Derby goes off will debut this year with an 18% takeout.
The pool will be hosted by the Maryland Jockey Club (MJC). The new bet was unanimously approved at Tuesday's monthly meeting of the Maryland Racing Commission.
“We're going to use theirs as a foundation. But we're also going to add a couple of [Bob] Baffert horses [that have been barred from Derby competition this year]. We want to hopefully have a couple of local Maryland horses in there. We want to add a couple of fillies. So we're going to try to get maybe at least 30 betting interests. Maybe up to 39 [with an “all others' field option]. We can do 40 [total betting interests].”
