The 151st running of the Preakness Stakes (Grade I), the second jewel of the Triple Crown, is set for Saturday, May 16, 2026 at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland.

When is the Preakness Stakes?

The Preakness Stakes is on Saturday, May 16, 2026

Where is the Preakness Stakes?

In 2026 the Preakness Stakes will be raced at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland

When is the field drawn for the Preakness Stakes?

Post positions are scheduled to be drawn Monday, May 11 at Pimlico.

Where can I bet and watch the Preakness Stakes?

Wager and watch the Preakness Stakes via your OTB player account with OffTrackBetting.com or just watch the race live on TV with NBC with a post time of 6:45 p.m. ET.

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Taj Mahal Headed to Preakness (G1)

April 20 - Undefeated 3-year-old colt Taj Mahal is bound for the 151st Preakness Stakes (G1), Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown to be run for the first time over his home track May 16, following a dominant victory in Saturday's Federico Tesio at Laurel Park.

Nominated to the Triple Crown at the late April 6 deadline, Taj Mahal's front-running 8 ¼-length triumph in his two-turn debut earned him an automatic berth in the 1 3/16-mile Preakness. This marks the 11th straight year the Tesio offered the incentive.

"It was really impressive. You see a lot of these horses at home win the Tesio and go on to the Preakness and I thought to myself before the race, I hope he runs like 'wow.' You want to see a really big run from him to give you confidence that he should go on to the Preakness, and I do. I feel like he did that," trainer Brittany Russell said Sunday. "I feel like it was a really big race, his first time going two turns. We've learned so much about him each run. I feel like he continues to improve."

Russell was also impressed with how Taj Mahal exited the Tesio, just his third career start but second straight stakes win following Laurel's one-mile Miracle Wood Feb. 21 which came just two weeks after his 4 ¼-length debut victory.

"Back at the barn after the race and then this morning, he's just got some kind of air about him right now. He knows he's the man," she said. "He was looking for his feed tub. He was taking in all the attention. He acts like he knows what's going on. I took him out and jogged him on the road this morning and he's as confident as a horse can be. He was making sure everybody was looking at him."

Taj Mahal had to overcome outermost Post 10 in the Tesio, sprinting to the lead by the first turn and taking a four-length advantage after a quarter-mile. The lead extended to 10 lengths through a half and after Russell's husband, jockey Sheldon Russell, saw it shrink to less than three on the far turn he set Taj Mahal down for a drive to the wire that saw them steadily open up on their rivals.

"I've got to give Sheldon some credit. He broke sharp and he got him right over," Russell said. "He said I'll be honest with you, I had to. He said when [Taj Mahal] locked on, he wasn't going to be content until he got there so he had to get him in front and see if he could get him to relax a bit. He was running hard.

"He said he knew he had horse the whole time," she added. "He was just trying to give him a breather because he ran so hard. He said he was just hard on his hands the first part of the race, so he had to give him a chance to take a breath. He knew he had gears."

A total of 24 Tesio winners have gone on to run in the Preakness, the most recent being Pay Billy last spring. Maryland-bred Deputed Testamony, in 1983, is the lone horse to sweep both races.

Owned by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Bashor Racing, Determined Stables, Golconda Stable, Waves Edge Capital and Catharine Donovan, Taj Mahal is by 2016 Florida Derby (G1) and Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Nyquist and fetched $525,000 as a yearling. He began his career on the West Coast with Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert and was unraced before being sent to Russell last fall.

"He just wasn't progressing out there, that's all. There was nothing wrong with him or anything like that, we just took our time," she said. "Those guys are good, when they come this way they let me take my time and kind of figure them out. He just sort of started to do good. When he started to train good and do good I pressed on him a little bit and he responded. We decided to debut him and I was really confident going into his debut."

All of Taj Mahal's training and racing has been done at Laurel, which is hosting the Preakness during the reconstruction of Pimlico Race Course. He would be the first Triple Crown starter for Russell, who has dominated the standings as Maryland's winningest trainer each of the past three years.

"It feels good to have one good one like this in the barn. It kind of gets you going in the morning," Russell said. "He's walking out of his own stall. He's never left his stall in his barn at Laurel. On the big day, for him to be able to have the chance to do it at home, I'd love to think it's a major advantage. No traveling or anything."

Meanwhile, Robert Zoellner's homebred 3-year-old colt Crupper is under consideration for the Preakness, having also earned an automatic Preakness berth for his victory in Saturday's Bathhouse Row at Oaklawn Park. Trained by Donnie Von Hemel, he was among the original Jan. 26 Triple Crown nominations.

"That was a big topic of conversation yesterday evening," Von Hemel said Sunday. "We're certainly going to talk about it. I think a lot of times you have to watch the Derby and see who does or doesn't move forward from there. We won a nice race. We've got some work to do though if we're going to be competitive with those top 3-year-olds. He has to move forward from this race."

Crupper, by Candy Ride, was making his stakes debut in the Bathhouse Row, like the Tesio contested at 1 1/8 miles. He sat just off the lead through a quarter-mile after bumping with a rival out of the gate before taking over on the backstretch and turning back all challengers down the lane to prevail by a half-length.

"We thought all along that he had some talent in his early training and everything," Von Hemel said. "His mother [She's All In] was second in the [2013] Delaware Handicap at a mile and a quarter to Royal Delta, so further is better. I was trying to convince the racing secretary to run a mile and an eighth a-other-than but it never did happen, so I said let's just give this race a try. It's the right distance going a mile and an eighth and lucky for us, it all worked out."

Von Hemel was pleased with the way Crupper came out of the Bathhouse Row, which has seen three of its seven winners go on to the Preakness - Red Route One, fourth in 2023; Mr. Big News, seventh in 2020; and Laughing Fox, fifth in 2019.

"He's good in the feed tub. It doesn't matter if he races or not, he's usually licked it up," he said. "He just walked the shedrow this morning, of course, but I've got no complaints right now."

Talkin Pointed for 151st Preakness Stakes

April 13 - Trainer Danny Gargan won his first Triple Crown race with Dornoch in the 2024 Belmont Stakes (G1). Now he's hoping for a second triumph in racing's most revered series as he points Talkin to the 151st Preakness Stakes (G1), to be run May 16 at Laurel Park.

Talkin most recently finished third in Keeneland's April 4 Blue Grass (G1), which Further Ado won by 11 lengths. As with Dornoch, he's a son of Good Magic, the 2017 2-year-old champion who finished second in the 2018 Derby and fourth in the Preakness behind Triple Crown winner Justify. Talkin, a $600,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase, races for Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Pine Racing Stables, Legendary Thoroughbreds, Belmar Racing and Breeding LLC and R.A. Hill Stable.

Even if Talkin wound up with enough points to make Derby field, Gargan said the plan was to wait for Maryland's Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown at 1 3/16 miles.

"The Preakness is the kind of race that fits him," he said by phone from South Florida, where he was preparing to pack up his winter stable to head north. "I told everybody that even if we ran second in the Blue Grass, we'd probably wait on the Preakness. He's not a real big horse. He's average-sized, not a big strong, strapping colt and I don't want to do too much with him. He's sound, he's really good. I don't want to overwhelm him, and the Derby can be too overwhelming. Twenty horses, and you can get pushed around there and run nowhere or run a mediocre 10th or eighth. I've done that.

"I want to win another Triple Crown race," he added. "He fits the smaller field. I think he'll like that track. It's a shorter distance. He really doesn't want to go a mile and a quarter, probably. Hopefully that's the race he can jump up and run big. I didn't really like the position we were in the other day, stuck on the rail the whole race, and the rail was kind of flat. Once he finally got out, it was over. Hopefully we can get a better post where we can sit a nice third or fourth, a nice trip instead of jammed in there, and have a chance to win this thing. It would be tremendous. I'd love to win the Preakness."

Gargan said Talkin likely will remain at Keeneland to train before shipping to Laurel. He said at this point, he expects Joel Rosario to ride him back. "If something happens and he can't ride him, I'll ride Kendrick (Carmouche)," he said.

"I'm going to run three or four horses that week," Gargan said of Laurel. "I have a filly [G1-placed] Snowyte that I'm going to run in the fillies and mares route race [Allaire Dupont Distaff]. Golden Tornado, who was probably my best 2-year-old last year, might make his 3-year-old debut in the Sir Barton."

Lexington Runner-Up The Hell We Did a Preakness Possibility

Saturday's Stonestreet Lexington (G3) upset winner Trendsetter is not nominated to the Triple Crown, and trainer Ben Colebrook ruled out supplementing to the Preakness. However, runner-up The Hell We Did remains a possibility.

Todd Fincher, the Southwest-based trainer of Peacock Family Holdings' The Hell We Did, said the Preakness was definitely on his mind heading into the 1 1/6-mile Lexington and remains a possibility.

"He'd only run six furlongs," Fincher said of The Hell We Did's races before the Lexington, which came at Sunland Park, Zia Park and Remington Park. "We were hoping there would be three or four go to the front, and we could just chill back there. The pace wasn't super-fast, and he naturally has speed. He put himself in the race. Probably not fit enough for that. Very happy with him. He should only improve from here on out. Next step, I don't know.

"I had envisioned a great race and a win, and then go to the Preakness, but that is a long way away. We have options. We'll talk with the owners and decide. I think the next time he goes two turns, he'll be a lot better."

Positioned five weeks out, the Lexington, has been a reliable source of Preakness starters, including last year's runner-up Gosger, who won the Lexington. Rombauer captured the 2021 Preakness in an upset after finishing third in the Lexington. Owendale (2019) and Senior Investment (2017) both were third in the Preakness after winning the Keeneland stakes.

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