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2023 Preakness Stakes Best Sleeper Picks: Red Route Run, Perform, Coffeewithchris

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As the anticipation builds for the 2023 Preakness Stakes, the quest to identify promising sleeper bets becomes even more intriguing. The Kentucky Derby saw a horse with 17-1 odds win when Mage crossed the finish line ahead of many horses projected to do better than him. Additionally, the second place horse, Two Phil's, had 9-1 odds, which helped produce nice paydays for anyone who was lucky enough to have the exacta or trifecta.

Finding a true sleeper at the 2023 Preakness Stakes isn't easy. There are only eight horses. Half of them have odds of 9-1 or less and the other half have odds of 10-1 or greater. So which longshots should you be looking at to win, and which will help you with exotics?

2023 Preakness Stakes Best Sleeper Bets

Red Route One (10/1)

Red Route One has the fifth-best odds to win the Preakness, but this is a horse that you should not only include in your exotics but also consider as a threat to win this race. Jockey Joel Rosario and trainer Steve Asmussen team up again after guiding Disarm to a fourth-place finish at the Kentucky Derby.

This is a fresh horse that won its last time out at the end of April. Granted, the field wasn't very strong, and the last time he went up against a tough field, he finished sixth at the Arkansas Derby. The good news for Red Route One is that with most of the really good horses running at the Kentucky Derby, this Preakness is wide open. Rosario and Asmussen will have a plan to get this horse across the line first.

Perform (15/1)

Another horse that can definitely shock everyone and win this race is Perform. He has won his last two starts, and in his last race, he defeated fellow longshot Coffeewithchris. It was an insane finish, one that saw Perform pass the field on the rail in the final straightaway, then cut back outside to take care of the final horse and secure the win.

It was a great run from jockey Feargal Lynch, but it is unlikely that we see him allow his horse to get put in a similar position in this race. Will that cause Perform to burn out early as he tries to get into a good position, or could it allow the horse to run to its potential earlier? If it's the latter, this horse is a great addition to exotics.

Coffeewithchris (20/1)

At the Federico Tesio, Coffeewithchris finished fifth in a race that was won by Perform. It was the horse's worst finish since August of 2022. Coffeewithchris will likely set the pace early on in this 1 3/16 mile race, which could be to get this horse in the top three and add significant value to a trifecta or even possibly an exacta.

Coffeewithchris will have to hold off a lot of horses down the final straightaway, something he wasn't able to do his last time out. However, if the pace is right then the horse could be one of those rare winners that leads from wire-to-wire. Jockey Jamie Rodriguez has a lot of experience at Pimlico this season, but he has no experience in the Preakness. That could be problematic, or it could create a nothing to lose situation.


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