This weekend features the PGA Championship, NASCAR’s All-Star Race, NBA and NHL playoff games, and Ronda Rousey’s return to the octagon. But perhaps the most anticipated event is the Preakness Stakes, the Middle Jewel of horse racing’s Triple Crown, which takes place Saturday and will look a bit different this year.
With usual host site Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore undergoing a $400 million renovation, the Preakness is being held roughly 30 miles away at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland. It’s the first time since 1907 that the Preakness won’t be run at Pimlico, though it’s slated to return there next year.
But one thing hasn’t changed from recent years: The Preakness will have no Triple Crown pursuit. Golden Tempo, who rallied to win the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago, is bypassing this race, with his connections pointing him toward the Belmont Stakes on June 6. Absent the Derby winner, the Preakness field is wide open—nearly half of the 14-horse field is at single digits in the morning line odds.
The slight favorite, Iron Honor, managed to receive that status despite coming off a seventh-place finish in his last start. The horse competed at the Wood Memorial Stakes, got bumped early on, and could never fully recover. His status as the favorite has much to do with his connections—trainer Chad Brown is a two-time Preakness winner, while jockey Flavien Prat has one win on his resume.
A trio of horses are just behind Iron Honor as favorites, including the horse’s half-brother, Taj Mahal, who has a unique trainer-jockey pairing: a married couple. Brittany Russell is the trainer and looking to become the first female winning trainer in Preakness history. Meanwhile, her husband, Sheldon Russell, will ride Taj Mahal from his No. 1 post.
On equal footing with Taj Mahal are Incredibolt and Chip Honcho. The former is one of three holdovers from the Kentucky Derby, where he placed sixth. That continued the boom-or-bust run for Incredibolt—over his last five races, he’s won three but finished sixth in the other two. As for Chip Honcho, he has the post position in his favor. He drew the No. 6 post, which has both the most Preakness winners (17) and the highest win rate (14.9 percent) in the race’s history. Chip Honcho is looking for his first win as a 3-year-old, going 0 for 3 so far, after he won his last two starts as a juvenile.
Joining Incredibolt as horses that also ran in the Kentucky Derby are Ocelli and Robusta. Ocelli had the highest Derby finish (third place) of any horse in the Preakness field, though he’s still searching for his first victory in his eighth career start. Meanwhile, Robusta is owned by the winningest team in Preakness Stakes history: Calumet Farm, which has won a record eight Preakness races.
At 1 3/16 miles, the Preakness Stakes is the shortest of the Triple Crown races. Thus, it leans a little more into raw speed being a factor as opposed to a split of speed and stamina. A thoroughbred such as Napoleon Solo should stand out, as no horse in the Preakness Stakes field has a higher Equibase Speed Figure than his 99. He is a pace-setting horse who may very well lead the race early on, and there’s another reason he’ll stand out: Napoleon Solo is one of three Preakness horses with a gray/roan-colored coat, while the other 11 are all some shade of brown.
With this shorter distance, female horses, or fillies, stand a better chance at winning than they do in the other Triple Crown races. In fact, there have been as many fillies to win the Preakness (six) as there have been female horses to win the Kentucky Derby (three) and Belmont Stakes (three) combined. Unfortunately, there are no fillies in this year’s field, but there is a pair of geldings who will compete against the 12 colts.
Geldings are horses that have been castrated and are generally calmer and easier to train than colts (uncastrated males). The two geldings will be side-by-side at the starting gate, with Great White at the No. 13 post and Pretty Boy Miah at No. 14. Seven geldings have won the Preakness in its prior 150 years, but just two of those—Prairie Bayou (1993) and Funny Cide (2003)—have come in the last 100 years.
While the lack of a Triple Crown pursuit takes away some of the luster of the Preakness, it will still be a must-see event, with the Kentucky Derby just setting a viewership record. Also, the race will set the stage for the highly anticipated Belmont Stakes, and we should see a champion versus champion matchup as the Preakness winner will, presumably, square off against the Derby-winning Golden Tempo.
There’s also a chance that this is the last Preakness Stakes to take place on its customary spot, the third Saturday in May. It is rumored that this race will get pushed back a week starting in 2027 to allow for more Derby horses to compete in it. So, with its date on the calendar potentially changing, the race being held at a temporary location, and an eclectic field of contenders, the 2026 Preakness Stakes has several subplots that both diehard and casual horse racing fans can get into.
Saturday’s race will go to post at approximately 6:50 p.m. ET, with the race offering a $2 million purse. It will be broadcast on NBC and streamed on Peacock.
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