Everything to know about the 2025 Preakness post positions
River Thames wins at Gulfstream. (Photo by Coglianese Photos/Ryan Thompson)
May 13th, 2025
Nine horses are entered to race in Saturday’s $2 million Preakness (G1) at Pimlico. Post positions for the second leg of the Triple Crown were drawn on Monday evening.
With about half as many projected starters as the 2025 Kentucky Derby (G1), post positions are unlikely to prove as influential on the outcome of the Preakness. Some of the Kentucky Derby post positions haven’t produced a winning horse since the 1980s, 1970s, or 1960s. But the history of winning post positions in the Preakness reveals most posts yield similar success metrics.
The field is set for the 150th running of the Preakness Stakes.
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However, there are exceptions. The statistics suggest one horse may be disadvantaged by his post draw in this year’s Preakness.
Here are the 2025 Preakness post positions, along with historical data pertaining to each post since the starting gate was introduced to the Preakness in 1909:
| Post Position | Starts | Wins | Win % | Wins since 2000 | Last winner | 2025 Preakness entrant |
| 1 | 117 | 12 | 10.3 | 3 | National Treasure (2023) | Goal Oriented |
| 2 | 117 | 12 | 10.3 | 1 | Cloud Computing (2017) | Journalism |
| 3 | 117 | 12 | 10.3 | 1 | California Chrome (2014) | American Promise |
| 4 | 117 | 14 | 12.0 | 3 | Swiss Skydiver (2020) | Heart of Honor |
| 5 | 115 | 14 | 12.2 | 4 | Seize the Grey (2024) | Pay Billy |
| 6 | 114 | 17 | 14.9 | 3 | Rombauer (2021) | River Thames |
| 7 | 105 | 14 | 13.3 | 3 | Justify (2018) | Sandman |
| 8 | 93 | 10 | 10.8 | 2 | Bernardini (2006) | Clever Again |
| 9 | 78 | 4 | 5.1 | 2 | I'll Have Another (2012) | Gosger |
| 10 | 59 | 2 | 3.4 | 0 | Real Quiet (1998) | None |
| 11 | 41 | 2 | 4.9 | 1 | Point Given (2001) | None |
| 12 | 27 | 3 | 11.1 | 1 | Afleet Alex (2005) | None |
| 13 | 16 | 1 | 6.3 | 1 | Rachel Alexandra (2009) | None |
| 14 | 8 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | None | None |
| 15 | 2 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | None | None |
| 16 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | None | None |
| 17 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | None | None |
| 18 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | None | None |
The winningest post position in Preakness history is post 6, which has yielded 17 winners. It also boasts the highest win percentage at 14.9%. Posts 4, 5, and 7 have likewise been favorable, producing 14 winners apiece. All have yielded a win percentage between 12.0% and 13.3%.
Posts 4 through 7 appear to be the sweet spot for churning out Preakness winners, though there aren’t really any post positions with bad stats from post 1 through post 8.
However, there is generally a falloff in win percentages from post 9 outward. This is partly because as field sizes grow, any given post position is less likely to produce a winner. In a six-horse field, any post has a 16.7% chance at producing the winner; in a 12-horse field that drops to 8.3%.
Keeping all this in mind, which horses drew best in the 2025 Preakness? Historically speaking, #6 River Thames (9-2) got the best of the draw. #5 Pay Billy (20-1), #7 Sandman (4-1), and #8 Clever Again (5-1) have nothing to complain about either. Pay Billy is starting from post 5, which has produced more Preakness winners (four) than any other post since 2000. Recent winners from post 5 include Seize the Grey (2024) and Early Voting (2022).
Perhaps the only horse who drew poorly from a statistical standpoint is #9 Gosger (20-1), the up-and-coming Lexington (G3) winner. Post 9’s 5.1% win rate is less than half of post 8’s 10.9% rate, and 5.1% is lower than would be mathematically expected for post 9 based on field sizes through the years.
Will River Thames extend the record-setting success of post 6? Will Journalism bolster the win percentage of post 2? Can Gosger overcome the modest success rate of post 9? We’ll find out on Saturday.
