For the first time in living memory, the Preakness Stakes will not be run at Pimlico. The Baltimore landmark is being torn back to its foundations for a complete rebuild, and the middle jewel of the Triple Crown shifts down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway to Laurel Park for the 151st running. The race is scheduled to return to a renovated Old Hilltop in 2027.
The 1 3/16-mile classic is set for Saturday, May 16, with a 7:01 p.m. ET post and a $2 million purse. Fourteen horses drew into the gate, three of them coming back from Kentucky Derby starts and the rest skipping Louisville entirely to point at Laurel.
The morning line is competitive. Taj Mahal from the rail and Chip Honcho from post six share top billing at 5-1, with Incredibolt drawn alongside at 5-1 from post 12. Ocelli, third in the Derby at 70-1 and arguably the form pick coming out of Louisville, sits at 6-1 from post two. Iron Honor, the most-fancied skipper of Derby week, is 9-2 from post nine.
The remainder of the field rounds out the betting at longer prices: Napoleon Solo at 8-1 from post ten, The Hell We Did at 15-1, Pretty Boy Miah at 15-1, Great White at 15-1, Talkin at 20-1, and four runners — Crupper, Robusta, Bull by the Horns and Corona de Oro — at 30-1.
A handful of riding assignments stand out. Irad Ortiz Jr. takes Talkin from post five. His brother Jose Ortiz, fresh off the Derby win on Golden Tempo, is named on Chip Honcho. Flavien Prat is up on Iron Honor. John Velazquez, a Triple Crown fixture, draws Corona de Oro at 30-1 from post 11.
Three of the 14 ran in the Derby. Ocelli is the most obvious wheel-back, having stayed on for third at 70-1 in Louisville. Robusta and Crupper round out the trio. Derby winner Golden Tempo is not entered. DeVaux's barn signalled in the days following the Churchill Downs win that they would let the colt recover and weigh a Belmont assault rather than chase a Triple Crown in 14 days.
Laurel's configuration changes the strategic calculus. The Pimlico track is a tight bullring with sharp turns, where post position and lead change can be everything. Laurel's main course is more conventional and gives stalking and closing styles a cleaner geometry. Handicappers expect that to soften the bias against late runners that has shown up in some Preakness data sets.
The other unknown is operational. Preakness Day at Pimlico is a Baltimore civic event as much as a horse race. The infield, the local food vendors, the regional broadcast feed — none of it travels neatly down the road. Laurel will run the card with its own protocols, and the Stronach Group's contingency plan has been in the works since the rebuild was approved.
What the race needs, beyond logistics, is the kind of Derby winner who returns to settle the chalk. Without Golden Tempo, the 151st Preakness becomes an open contest among 14 hopefuls. Taj Mahal, Ocelli, Chip Honcho, Iron Honor and Incredibolt will share most of the betting interest. The history will be written by whichever of them runs the right race on a track few of them know.
