2009 PREAKNESS STAKES LATEST BETTING TIPS AND PREDICTIONS

We are less than 24 hours away from the 2nd race of the American Triple Crown- The Preakness Stakes at Pimlico. We have had to put up with a nearly incessant amount of hype courtesy of the late entry of filly Rachel Alexandra who is the morning line favourite because she is a girl and did really well in one race against a bunch of fillys. I am definitely not ruling out a win from Rachel Alexandra (bookies are bookies for a reason) but she has never come up against a field like this and I do not know whether she will be able to answer the questions that I expect Pioneerof The Nile and Musket Man to ask of her. Mine That Bird also comes into the race coasting on a cacophony of hype and I think he is going to need some help and very favourable conditions to pull off another miracle. The weather forecast predicting Thunderstorms late afternoon is a tad ominous though. If you are looking to get a bit of a gauge on how Pimlico should shape up tomorrow, I suggest keeping an eye on the undercard for the race. See how many long-shot winners are coming in and use that information valuably. On Derby day at Churchill Downs, we saw a pile of 30/1 and 20/1 runners come in victorious. We all know what happened then. Looking at the results from today, where we saw the running of the Grade 1 Black Eyed Susan Stakes the favoured horse, Hooh Why was scratched and we saw lots of late movement towards Casanova Move- he came third. Payton D`Oro took the win and was listed at around 7/2 to take the win come post time. I think this bodes well for Pioneerof The Nile. Even with some slop on the ground I still think he has what it takes to win. The #9 Gate is a blessing and I think he will be able to dictate the pace coming around the final turn. This horse has what it takes to win a Grade 1 race and, although I know the competition will be stiff, he should be able to pull this one off with an epic final charge. Rachel Alexandra is in a real bind here. She comes out of post #13 and needs to get right to the front immediately. That's going to be easier said than done against this field and I have a feeling that a certain amount of punters who come into this looking to back a horse with hype could wind up a bit disappointed. I am keeping my eye on Musket Man, Papa Clem, Pioneerof The Nile and maybe Mine That Bird if I see a lot of long-shots coming in on Saturday.