This is not your typical edition of the Preakness Stakes (G1).
While the 2020 race, which was contested in October due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was unprecedented, the May 16 renewal has a number of unique elements tied to it.
Consider:
- The 1 3/16-mile middle jewel of the Triple Crown is being contested at Laurel Park as the reconstruction of Pimlico Race Course is underway.
- For a second straight year, the connections of the Kentucky Derby (G1) winner elected to bypass the Preakness and eschew running on two weeks' rest to target the Belmont Stakes (G1).
- The top finisher exiting the Run for the Roses and running in the Preakness? He's a maiden.
- Female trainers could make it two wins in a row in the Triple Crown.
- The 3-year-old colt that many observers expected to be the favorite was withdrawn from consideration the morning of the post position draw.
- A horse that wasn't under consideration a day before the draw was entered and is among the three second choices in the morning line.
- Amongst a field of 14, there is only one grade 1 winner and no one who has finished better than third in a grade 1 this year.
Welcome to the 2026 Trifle Crown.
Through all of this unusual activity, at least the May 11 draw for the $2 million Preakness produced a tried and true methodology for favoritism as Gotham Stakes (G3) winner Iron Honor drew post nine in a field of 14 and was installed as a 9-2 morning-line favorite in the spring classic for 3-year-olds.
Trainer Chad Brown has won the Preakness twice, both times with a 3-year-old who ran in the Wood Memorial, skipped the Kentucky Derby, and arrived in Maryland with six weeks' rest. He'll try for a hat trick Saturday with St. Elias Stable, William Lawrence, and Glassman Racing's Iron Honor, who had a rough trip in the Wood and finished seventh in his last start.
"He's very live in this race," Brown said. "He reminds me a lot of Cloud Computing (Brown's 2017 Preakness winner). They are very similar looking in size, shape, and color. They move the same. Cloud Computing had a much better performance in the Wood (third), but he had a better trip."
There was speculation Arkansas Derby (G1) runner-up Silent Tactic would be the Preakness favorite, but trainer Mark Casse decided against it due to a bruised foot that also kept the son of Tacitus out of the opening leg of the Triple Crown.
Reflective of an utterly wide-open race, three horses were priced at 5-1 with another at 6-1.
Pin Oak Stud's Incredibolt was the last-minute addition after the defection of Silent Tactic. Winner of the Virginia Derby for trainer Riley Mott, the son of Bolt d'Oro was bumped while rallying in the stretch of the Kentucky Derby and wound up a hard-luck sixth.
Grouped with the 5-1 shots, he drew post 12.
"I thought this was a great call by Riley. He says the horse is doing great and it seems like a good idea," said Pin Oak vice president Ben Bernhard. "With a race like the Preakness, you have to let the horse tell you and this is what he's telling Riley."
Chip Honcho was second to Paladin in the Risen Star Stakes (G2) but bypassed the Kentucky Derby after finishing fifth in the Louisiana Derby (G2). Trainer Steve Asmussen expects an improved performance from the Connect colt owned by Leland Ackerley, James Sherwood, Jode Shupe, and John Cilia.
"I think we're in a very good spot with him right now," Asmussen said about Chip Honcho, who has post six and is priced at 5-1.
After Golden Tempo put Cherie DeVaux in the record books as the first female trainer of a Kentucky Derby winner, trainer Brittany Russell will try to duplicate that feat in the Preakness with the undefeated Taj Mahal.
Based at Laurel Park, where he is unbeaten in his three starts with a pair of stakes victories, Taj Mahal will carry the hopes of Maryland, which has not produced a Preakness winner based within its borders since Deputed Testamony in 1983.
The speedy Florida-bred son of Nyquist will break from the rail and was pegged at 5-1 odds. He is owned by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Bashor Racing, Determined Stables, Golconda Stable, Waves Edge Capital, and Catherine Donovan.
"It's good to see him get some respect with the odds," Russell said. "I don't love the rail, but he's a good gate horse. Hopefully he can get away clean and get a good position."
The aforementioned maiden is Ocelli, whose career earnings of $609,800 tower over his status as a non-winner. A son of Connect owned by Ashley Durr, Anthony Tate, and Front Page Equestrian, Ocelli staged an impressive rally in the stretch of the Kentucky Derby to grab the lead at the sixteenth pole at 70-1 odds. He could not fend off the victorious Golden Tempo and Renegade in the final yards, but distinguished himself by finishing third, just a length behind the winner.
Trained by Whit Beckman, Ocelli was also third in the Wood Memorial (G2) in his previous start.
While the connections of Run for the Roses winner Golden Tempo wanted no part of the two-week spacing between the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, Beckman is unfazed by it.
"After running (in the Triple Crown) some horses want to sulk in the back of their stall, but not him," Beckman said. "He's been vibrant, happy. There's a glint in his eye; he's training great, so we're going to continue to roll with that. Being a maiden is a label he has, but he sure doesn't run like one."
Ocelli landed post two and is 6-1 in the morning line.
Talkin was third in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) for trainer Danny Gargan, who says the son of Good Magic is primed for a big effort on Saturday.
"The last few weeks, he's come along. He's going in the right direction. I think he's going to go way forward," Gargan said. "I think he's going to run the race of his life."
Owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Pine Racing Stables, Legendary Thoroughbreds, Belmar Racing and Breeding, and R.A. Hill Stable, Talkin (20-1) has post five.
Great White caused some hearts to race when he flipped behind the starting gate during the load for the Kentucky Derby and was scratched. Trainer John Ennis says the son of Volatile is fine and ready to make amends in the Preakness.
"He's doing great," Ennis said. "I jogged him myself a mile (May 10). He came into the barn squealing and bucking and fresh as can be."
Great White (post 13, 15-1), who was fifth in the Blue Grass Stakes while racing on dirt for the first time, is owned by Three Chimneys Farm and Ennis.
Gold Square's Champagne Stakes (G1) winner Napoleon Solo (10, 8-1) may be winless in two starts at 3, but some brilliant recent workouts paint him as a prime player in the early pace and perhaps beyond that.
The rest of the field includes Robusta (4, 30-1), The Hell We Did (7, 15-1), Corona de Oro (11, 30-1), Bull By the Horns (8, 30-1), Pretty Boy Miah (14, 15-1), and Crupper (3, 30-1).
