Preakness Stakes 2017: Prize money break down

On Saturday evening, the second leg of the Triple Crown will take place, with the 2017 Preakness Stakes. How will the prize money be allocated?

The 2017 Triple Crown began earlier in May, as the Kentucky Derby took place. This is considered the biggest horse racing event of the year, with over 100,000 people attending and a sizeable amount of prize money being given. Plenty more of this is still to come, though, with the 2017 Preakness Stakes going down on Saturday, May 20, from the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, MD.

The crowd favorite for the Preakness Stakes will be Always Dreaming, who took home the Kentucky Derby win on May 5. Everyone will look for the next Triple Crown winner, which American Pharoah did in 2015. Before that, we went over 30 years without someone winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes in one stretch.

As for other favorites, there’s Classic Empire. The New York Times noted this horse has the best chance of upending Always Dreaming:

"Slammed by McCraken at the start of the Derby, he gamely rallied to finish fourth but came out of the race looking like a heavyweight fighter, with cuts and a swollen eye. With a clean trip, he is the big threat to Always Dreaming."

With this being a big race, whoever is the owner and jockey of the winning horse will take home a fair amount of money. Bleacher Report has it down for $800,000 for the winner, with about $1.5 million to be handed out in total.

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We’ll see which horse claims the second leg of the 2017 Triple Crown. It’s a highly-anticipated race for the big prize, which will have thousands watching in person and even more at home. Let’s see what kind of momentum, if any, can carry into the Belmont Stakes.