2025 Preakness Stakes Horse Profile & Betting Outlook: Pay Billy
Among the confirmed field for the 150th running of the Preakness Stakes is Federico Tesio Stakes champion Pay Billy.
In the latest installment of my Respected Money Preakness Stakes (G1) horse betting profiles is Mike Gorham’s talented colt Pay Billy who earned an automatic berth in the Preakness field following his victory in the Federico Tesio back on April 19.
Pay Billy
POST NUMBER: TBD
JOCKEY: Raul Mena / TRAINER: Mike Gorham
RECORD: 8 starts: 4-1-1
TOP EQUIBASE SPEED FIGURE: 93
RUNNING STYLE: Stalker / Midpack (Prefers to press the pace)
CAREER EARNINGS: $234,475
This son of Improbable and Harlington’s Rose heads into the “Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown” as an emerging contender who is a “nose shy” of being unbeaten in all four of his 2025 starts.
Pay Billy Breeding
Sire: Improbable, the 2020 Whitney Stakes (G1) champion and Breeders Cup Classic (G1) runner-up, was very consistent at longer distances, hitting the board in 11 of 15 career races ($2,729,520 career earnings). The son of City Zip, who finished fourth in the 2019 Kentucky Derby, incredibly earned a triple-digit Equibase Speed figure in all but one of his 15 starts.
Dam: Harlington’s Rose was a versatile daughter of Harlington by Orientate who won the 2002 NAPA Breeders' Cup Sprint (Gr. 1).
Pay Billy Jockey / Owner Derby Achievements
Jockey Raul Mena, who has been aboard Pay Billy in all four of his career wins, will be making his Preakness Stakes debut.
This will be trainer Mike Gorham’s first appearance in the Preakness Stakes after Pay Billy’s entry via the “Win and You’re In” Federico Tesio Stakes.
#ICYMI ~ PAY BILLY ($5.80) draws off in the stretch to win the $100,000 Private Terms Stakes at @LaurelPark. Jockey Raúl Mena was up for trainer Michael Gorham and owner RKTN Racing. pic.twitter.com/cysBELa5hc
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) March 23, 2025
Pay Billy Race History
Pay Billy has a career record of four wins, one second-place, and one third-place finish in eight career starts. After only winning one of his first four races as a two-year-old, the blossoming colt has been sensational in his three-year-old campaign.
After earning his first taste of success at six-furlongs in a Maiden Special Weight in December, Pay Billy is a nose-shy of being undefeated in 2025.
Stretching out to one-mile on the dirt, Pay Billy earned a 5-length win against Allowance company, prior to losing by a nose to Barbadian Runner in the Miracle Wood Stakes on Feb. 22.
After coming up just shy in his first attempt at one turn, Gorham opted to have him try two-turns and it paid major dividends. Pay Billy won the Private Terms Stakes by 3 and ½ lengths at a distance of 1 1/16-mile followed up by 1 and ½ length victory in the Federico Tesio Stakes at a 1 ⅛ -mile on April 19.
Pay Billy Preakness Stakes Outlook
Pay Billy enters the Preakness on a two-race winning streak in peak form. His latest wins around two turns, when he stalked the pace and showed tactical speed, profiles as a sleeper to hit the board in the Preakness. Pay Billy is training very well, most recently firing off five-furlongs in :51.60 seconds on May 3 at Delaware Park. In the Preakness Future Pool, which ended just prior to the start of the Kentucky Derby, Pay Billy closed at moonshot odds of 47-1.
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-1be8bb0e9ea1ab9f8bfbf612aa95e4bb.jpeg "Frank Taddeo")
Frank Taddeo is a successful high-stakes fantasy football player who created the first-ever DFS program offered in a Las Vegas sportsbook. Besides contributing NFL fantasy analysis with a Vegas slant, Frank Taddeo primarily performs as On SI’s Senior Fantasy Analyst, providing his significant experience and resources in the sports world.