ITM Players' Newsletter - May 9, 2025 Presented by Preakness 150
Onto the Preakness!
Pimlico Race Course and 1/ST Racing will host the 150th Preakness Stakes next Saturday (May 17). Head to Maryland for one of the biggest parties in all of horse racing!
Tickets are still on sale. For more information, visit www.preakness.com.
We have little time to waste!
Sure, we are now over the Kentucky Derby mountain on the 2025 calendar, but the stakes action only intensifies from here. This time of year always makes the game of horse racing truly feel like one for sharks. Not only are we watching these pools preying on inefficiencies and inadequacies, but we also have to keep moving forward through losses or through wins. Though sometimes even I wonder if that whole “sharks must keep swimming to survive” thing is made up. Call me a skeptic! That’s probably what makes me feel so at home in racing.
Our focus starts to shift towards Pimlico for not just the Preakness, but the 150th running of the Preakness! We’ll honor over a century and a half of tradition down in Baltimore with another awesome betting weekend, but for now we enjoy some respite. Some.
Racing still rolls, my friends. Monmouth Park opens this weekend! My lovely Monmouth, a place truly of my own heart. And of course, there always is something to talk about — especially with the news of Sovereignty deciding to shift his focus towards the Belmont Stakes. Yet another Derby winner has moved to ignore the second jewel of the Triple Crown, which prompted me earlier this week to talk with Randy Moss about the state of the Triple Crown and whether or not it’s time we modernize this staple of horse racing to better fit the regiments of the 21st century.
Randy has been an advocate for modifying the Triple Crown for nearly two decades now, and I have been back and forth on the subject. However, in light of another Derby winner abandoning any shot at the Triple Crown, my attitude is starting to change, too. Some food for thought, at the very least.
Oh! And I still have handicapping duties going over at attheraces.com. This week, I wrote a horse-by-horse analysis for the Royal Palm Stakes at Gulfstream Park, a race which invites the winner to compete at Royal Ascot next month.
Enjoy a lovely weekend of racing, or even of reprieve, before we nosedive into the Old Bay for Preakness 150.
MYWAYP,
PTF
Subscribe to ITM Plus for exclusive picks, written analysis, and shows from your favorite ITM contributors! Exclusive content this weekend includes:
Podcast covering Belmont at Aqueduct for Saturday
Coast to Coast Pick 5 for Sunday
Make sure to save and follow the ITM blog for daily picks from your favorite tracks and more racing coverage:
Santa Anita /// Pimlico /// Coast to Coast Pick 5 /// Monmouth Park
Players’ Podcast - Saturday Free Racing Tips and Analysis From Around the World
A jam-packed show featuring handicapping thoughts for Woodbine on Saturday (May 10th), the Santa Anita Pick 6 for Saturday, the Late Pick 5 from Churchill Downs and some Japanese stakes action from Tokyo Racecourse. Guests include BCBC champ Drew Coatney, Kevin Kilroy, Jackson Muniz and Alex Henry on this show dual hosted by PTF and Mikee P.
Players’ Podcast - Kentucky Derby Betting Challenge Recap Show
PTF is back with a trio of guests to recap this year’s wildly successful return of the Kentucky Derby Betting Challenge on TwinSpires.com, including an interview with 2025 KDBC champion Frank Mustari!
Players’ Podcast - Monmouth Park Opening Saturday 2025
PTF kicks off the show with Brian Skirka of Monmouth Park as they go over the particulars and the highlights of the 2025 Monmouth Park meet.
Next up, PTF and JK tackle the Opening Day Late Pick 5.
Harness Players’ Podcast - 5/9/25 | 2025 MGM Borgata Roundtable Discussion
In The Money's Mikee P and Ray Cotolo are joined by Yonkers Raceway's Edison Hatter and the Daily Racing Form's Derick Giwner to break down harness racing stakes action at Yonkers Raceway on Friday (May 9), headlined by the $516,000 MGM Borgata Series Final -- the first Grade 1 stake on the harness racing calendar. The group also previews the sequence for the $20,000 guaranteed Pick 5, which starts in Race 5 and goes through Race 9.
Feeder tournaments are now underway at TwinSpires for the $3,000 Stephen Foster Betting Challenge, which features cash prizes and seats for the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge, 2026 Kentucky Derby Betting Challenge & 2026 National Horseplayers Championship. Register into a feeder today and earn your seat for the Stephen Foster Betting Challenge!
Monmouth Park opens for its 2025 season this Saturday (May 10)! Come enjoy the summer air and ocean breeze with high-action thoroughbred racing at the jewel of the Jersey Shore!
Woodbine Thoroughbreds is back in full swing for 2025! Catch racing from the Toronto oval on Saturdays and Sundays starting at 1:05 p.m. (EDT). Don’t forget, too, about the $100,000 guaranteed Early Pick 5!
The late-night weeknight oval Assiniboia Downs returns this Tuesday (May 13) with live thoroughbred racing! Catch racing from the gem of Manitoba on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from May through early October with first-race post time at 7:30 p.m. (CDT).
Players’ Podcast - Derby Weekend 2025 presented by KTDF
Mikee P and Nick Tammaro recap some of the important races this weekend at Churchill Downs presented by the KTDF. The G1 Kentucky Derby, the G1 Kentucky Oaks, as well as G1 Churchill Downs highlight the show with a look forward toward the second leg of the Triple Crown the Preakness Stakes.
Top 10 Takeaways from the 2025 KENTUCKY DERBY
PTF and JK discuss their TOP 10 Takeaways from the 2025 Kentucky Derby!
2025 PREAKNESS STAKES TOP 5
JK and PTF are back with their Top 5 selections for the 2025 Preakness Stakes—the second jewel of the Triple Crown. With Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty officially skipping the Preakness, and a decision still pending from Derby runner-up and favorite Journalism, the landscape of this year’s race at Pimlico Race Course is wide open.
The Owner’s Box - Episode 165 – Michael Banahan
Billy and Michelle chat with Godolphin’s Michael Banahan after an incredible classic weekend.
I wish I shared your love of Monmouth, simply to have yet another track to tackle, but I generally pass over it altogether since it is perennially one of the highest in winning favorites. Not quite on the level of Charles Town but not worth my limited handicapping labor hours for the generally stunted rewards.
Almost impossible now to argue with Randy's position on the Preakness. If it's still considered a jewel in the Triple Crown, it has to be more along the lines of zirconium. I am, of course, looking forward to the race but mainly hoping for a strong undercard and no surprise thunderstorms a la 2015 when the freak downpour just prior to the Preakness destroyed the chances of Firing Line who, I will go to the grave believing, would have beaten American Pharoah.
Anyway, before we get there, let's take down Friday's 95k SA P-6 carryover. If we need more ammo for the assault, count me in!