HORSE RACING

Deep Closer Happy Jack Is Son of 2013 Preakness Winner Oxbow

The 2022 Preakness Stakes is Saturday, and nine top three-year-olds will run in the second jewel of the Triple Crown at Pimlico Race Course. Which horses should you bet on at FanDuel Racing?

There are 10 stakes races Saturday at Pimlico including the $1.5 million Preakness Stakes in Race 13. Post time at 7:01 p.m. ET. Using TVG projections and Horse Racing Nation (HRN) as a guide, here are the horse profiles for the second leg of America’s Triple Crown.

New players, bet $5, win $100 on the Preakness and get Win Bet Insurance if your horse finishes 2nd or 3rd. Bet the Preakness!

As always, check the program for racing information, and monitor the weather and track conditions.

(I will reference Equibase's Speed Figure and BRIS and Beyer speed figures, which tells you how fast a horse has been running in each of its races -- adjusted for track, distances, and conditions.)

#6 Happy Jack

Morning Line Odds: 30/1
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Trained by Doug O'Neill and ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, Happy Jack is a big longshot at 30/1 on the opening line. Unraced as a two-year-old, Happy Jack is 0-for-4 in his graded stakes starts this year with a pair of third-place finishes. That includes the Santa Anita Derby, where he finished just in front of Armagnac.

Happy Jack was then a non-factor in his next race, finishing 14th in the Kentucky Derby, but he did get slowed up and steadied as he tried to move up from the back of the pack.

Happy Jack is sired by Oxbow, who won the 2013 Preakness Stakes and had much more foundation under him than Happy Jack does. But this big longshot possesses all the pace/speed requirements of so many board-hitting Preakness longshots, according to HRN. And Happy Jack will likely be sitting at the very back and hoping for a fast pace with new rider Gaffalione riding a value longshot that Horse Racing Nation rates with a very good chance to complete the superfecta for a bigger payoff.

2022 Preakness

There is plenty of intrigue with this year’s Preakness.

Will Epicenter validate the belief he ran the best Kentucky Derby performance based on being relatively close to the hot pace? Can Kentucky Oaks' winner Secret Oath take on the boys and prevail the way Swiss Skydiver did in 2020? Will 'new shooter' Early Voting pull off the upset like Rombauer did last year after also skipping the Kentucky Derby? Is there a longshot lurking in the wings to run by them all?

The last three Preakness winners have gone to post with odds of 11/1, 11/1 and 6/1. Justify in 2018 was the last Preakness favorite to win the race on his way to capturing the Triple Crown.