When the horses break from the starting gate for the May 17 Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course there won't be more than nine runners. That's becoming a trend that hasn't been matched for the race in more than 30 years.
The race, the second leg of the Triple Crown, is in a four-year stretch that has seen no more than nine starters each year. There were nine in 2022, seven with one scratch in 2023, and eight with one scratch last year. This run of smaller fields is the longest for the Preakness since 1986-91.
Then from 1992 through 2021, the race only saw nine or fewer starters six times. So a rebound, especially after Pimlico's planned rebuild is finished, is not out of the question. When asked to comment, a Maryland racing official declined.
Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who saddles American Promise in Saturday's race, finds it interesting how much competition there is to get into the maximum field of 20 for the Kentucky Derby (G1) but less so for the Preakness.
"I think that the younger trainers are a little bit more cautious now, they're a little bit more concerned about their percentage, a little bit more because of all the statistics available to them, Rag Sheets, everything," he said. "They calculate their chances a little bit and have a tendency to maybe go a different direction, which they have the opportunity to."
He added, "I don't understand why this wouldn't keep its romance and pop that it always has and that more people would jump on it. I love it."
Lukas trained last year's Preakness winner Seize the Grey , one of three Preakness starters he's conditioned during this four-year downswing. He also had eight runners during the previous lull from 1986-91. He would know better than anyone if the race has changed in a way that would discourage a willingness to participate.
He doesn't think the Preakness has changed at all other than the paint color of the barn for the Preakness horses going from pink to green. If the race needs an advocate, Lukas is ready. He loves coming back year after year.
"I've been sitting here for 45 years, this same chair, looking down here at (Bob) Baffert, the other guys, I don't see anything changing," Lukas said. "They do a beautiful job, but it's the camaraderie here; it is excellent with the other trainers, the tension and intensity drops off from the Derby. I don't know why it would, because this is such an important link, but it seems like it's a lot easier for everybody to operate here."
One of the first questions to the winning connections of the Kentucky Derby victor is whether they will come back on two weeks' rest to try for the second jewel of the Triple Crown. Usually that is answered with hesitancy and the expected response of waiting to see how the horse comes out of the race he just won.
And while the Derby winner skipping the Preakness isn't anything new, it has become more common and might influence participation levels. Lukas said he doesn't hold it against any trainer who decides to skip the Baltimore race, including Bill Mott, trainer of this year's Derby winner Sovereignty.
"When we don't get the Derby winner to participate here, there's usually an underlying cause of some kind. It's not just the two weeks," Lukas said. "That's what comes up. Everybody said, 'Well, I don't want to run back in two weeks.' Well, I think if we really got to the bottom of it, everybody that made that decision would probably have another excuse to go with it.
"When everything's good, I think they're here, they're going to do it. They're not going to pass up the economic impact on a horse that wins a Triple Crown. We're talking about serious syndication possibilities."
