Who Owns the Preakness Horses With the Best Odds

With the 2022 Preakness Stakes just days away, the race's horse owners must be feeling jittery. The 147th running of the Preakness Stakes is scheduled for May 21, 2022—two weeks after the Kentucky Derby—and will air live from Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Md., on NBC, with coverage starting at 4 p.m. ET.

Creative Minister, Un Ojo, Skippylongstocking, Ethereal Road, Shake Em Loose, and Rattle N Roll will all compete at this year’s Preakness, but they’re not the horses with the best odds, according to CBS Sports. Those top contenders are Epicenter (3-1), Secret Oath (11-2), Early Voting (6-1), and Simplification (8-1). Here’s more information about all four of those horses and their owners.

Epicenter belongs to Ron Winchell of Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC. Ron’s father, Verne, founded the Winchell’s Donut House chain, according to Bowling Green Daily News.

“Epicenter is the caliber of horse that gives you that kind of confidence,” trainer Steve Asmussen told Bowling Green Daily News, adding that Winchell bought Epicenter in Sept. 2020 from a catalog of thousands of horses. “To find or feel that you’ve located a gem such as Epicenter is what makes this such a wonderful sport. It’s there for everybody, not only the elite. You must do the work.”

Rob and Stacy Mitchell, who operate Briland Farm in Lexington, Ky., are the owners of Secret Oath, according to America’s Best Racing. And Rob, a heart surgeon by trade, told Horse Racing Nation that the horse will get time off after the 2022 Preakness.

“We’re not running in the Belmont,” he revealed. “We’re going to sit back and rest her. Whether she wins the Preakness or loses the Preakness, she’s going to get some time off. I’ve made that 100 percent clear to [trainer D. Wayne Lukas], and he’s on board with it. I don’t care if we win by 10 lengths, she’s getting some time off.”

Billionaire hedge fund manager Seth Klarman, a founder of Baupost Group, is the owner of Early Voting, according to BloodHorse. He’s also the owner of Cloud Computing, the horse that won Preakness in 2017. “There’s a lot of similarities between Early Voting and Cloud Computing,” trainer Chad Brown told the magazine recently. “They both have good early speed on the stretchout. They are strong, sharp work horses; powerful horses. Both are good-moving, attractive horses, and they are lightly raced.”

Tami Bobo and Tristan de Meric are the owners behind Simplification, according to Brisnet.com. “He’s brought us so much happiness and fun, and he’s just been a joy to have,” Bobo said in the March 18 episode of The Ron Flatter Racing Pod. “This horse has been solid. I mean, he’s very sound, very trainable horse, loves his job.”

Her husband, Fernando de Jesus, said that Simplification “showed when he was a baby that he was a little different than most horses. It’s what champions have. Some horses separate themselves from the others.”