Preakness Stakes (G1) history will be made the moment 14 3-year-olds break out of the starting gate May 16 as, for the first time since 1908, the middle jewel of the Triple Crown will not be contested at Pimlico Race Course. Instead, the host is Laurel Park—located about 20 miles south of Pimlico.
The move to Laurel allows for something that has not been possible in a long time for the Preakness: a home-track advantage for Taj Mahal. As Pimlico's structure decayed and the track only opened for Preakness week, it became impossible for any contender to have previous racing experience over the surface, even for the locally based Maryland horses.
That makes the conversation around Taj Mahal all the more different this year. A perfect 3-for-3 at Laurel since debuting Feb. 6, Taj Mahal seeks to become the first winner of the local Federico Tesio Stakes—which now awards an automatic berth to the Preakness—to win the Preakness since Deputed Testamony in 1983. By racing at home, he is the lone contender who has remained in his normal daily routine while exiting his own stall.
"I think just being here, he hasn't had to ship, he's familiar with the surface. All those things I think will play on our side," trainer Brittany Russell, who seeks to become the first female trainer to win the Preakness, told Preakness publicity. "He loves this racetrack. They're all positive things."
The Florida-bred son of Nyquist will have his work cut out for him as he breaks from the rail with Russell's husband, Sheldon, aboard for the ownership of SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Bashor Racing, Determined Stables, Golconda Stable, Waves Edge Capital, and Catherine Donovan. Luckily, he has proven versatile. In his two stakes attempts, he's led at every point of call. In his debut, he closed from last of six.
"Like most tracks, it's always nice to have a run or breeze over it," Sheldon Russell said. "It's hard to go fast on this sort of track where the turns are wider, so naturally it's going to slow the horse down. Had 'Taj' run any of his races at another racetrack, his times would have been a lot faster. I think (having raced at Laurel previously) is a huge advantage. Hopefully that pays off."
Pace Likely to Be Quick
Sheldon Russell will likely need to utilize the colt's speed to get in a good position, and there is no shortage of pace signed on. Crupper, Chip Honcho, Iron Honor, Napoleon Solo, Corona de Oro, and Pretty Boy Miah are all horses who have been successful on the lead. Great White, Robusta, and The Hell We Did also tend to be more forwardly placed in their ideal scenarios.
All of that competition will lead to some horses being required to take back. One of those could very well be Pretty Boy Miah way out in gate 14. He is campaigned by Team Penney Racing, Echo Racing, Flower City Racing, Anthony Bruno, and Christopher Meyer and will have Ricardo Santana Jr. in the irons.
The son of Beau Liam is jumping up in class after a front-running win in a starter optional claiming race at Aqueduct Racetrack. However, his numbers in his last two victories have been solid, earning a 95 and 96 Equibase Speed Figure, respectively. The 96 in his 1-mile victory is the third-highest last-out number in the field behind Ocelli's 99 in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Taj Mahal's 97 in the Federico Tesio. The other two runners to have run a higher number in their careers are Napoleon Solo, who ran a 99 in last October's Champagne Stakes (G1), and Chip Honcho, who ran a 98 when runner-up in February's Risen Star Stakes (G2).
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However, trainer Jeremiah Englehart points to his last defeat, a fourth-place finish in maiden company going 6 1/2 furlongs at Aqueduct in February, as reason to believe Pretty Boy Miah can be effective from off the pace.
"We're looking to try to break sharp and establish a position, whether he's on the lead or just off the first flight," Englehart told BloodHorse. "On the one race where he was fourth, he broke slowly. On that day, nobody closed. He was the only one to pass any horses it seemed for the whole day. I really don't think there's a scenario—other than leaving the gate slowly and not having any running room—where he can't be successful. I really think he can make his own race, he's a pretty smart horse."
Gold Square's Napoleon Solo is the lone grade 1 winner in the field thanks to his victory in last year's Champagne. However, his two starts this year have led to fifth-place finishes.
Still, the son of Liam's Map ran boldly on the lead in the April 4 Wood Memorial Stakes (G2) despite missing his final workout with a heel bruise and shipping up from Florida for the race. Now making his third start of the year, trainer Chad Summers is hopeful the colt's competitive spirit will lead him to classic glory.
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"He loves to compete, he loves to run, you can see it in the morning time," Summers said. "He's a horse that loves to train. When he's out there on the track, if he sees something in front of him, he wants to go get it. That competitiveness, I haven't had a horse like that since (multiple grade/group 1 winner) Mind Your Biscuits. … He's shown that in the morning time, now he just has to equate that to the afternoon."
St. Elias Stable, William Lawrence, and Cathi Glassman's Iron Honor was awarded the honor of morning-line favoritism at 9-2 odds for trainer Chad Brown, who makes an important equipment change for the Preakness. The son of Nyquist will race without blinkers for the first time.
First or second early in his first two starts, which both resulted in wins, Iron Honor turned aggressive when bumped early in the Wood Memorial and started pulling against the rider, burning energy and eventually finishing seventh, beaten 4 1/4 lengths. His rider that day, Manny Franco, suggested removing the blinkers after the race. He has breezed well without them since and adds two-time reigning Eclipse Award rider Flavien Prat.
The removal of blinkers could see him relax more and sit a better trip off the pace. That new strategy is also planned to be implemented by trainer John Ennis for Great White, who he co-owns with Three Chimneys Farm. The Volatile gelding set the pace in the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) last month, but Ennis felt when riding him in his May 9 workout that he will run better with a target.
READ: Ennis Breezes Great White Himself After Preakness
High-Quality Closers Exit Kentucky Derby
With the pace expected to be hot, it should set up well for two of the three horses who return on two weeks' rest from the May 2 Kentucky Derby: third-place finisher Ocelli and sixth-place finisher Incredibolt.
Both came from off the pace in the Derby: Incredibolt 7 3/4 lengths behind after a half-mile in :46.44 while Ocelli was 12 3/4 lengths back. The Derby's top three finishers—Golden Tempo, Renegade, and Ocelli—were among the last four horses to enter the clubhouse turn. Riley Mott, who trains Incredibolt for Pin Oak Stud, said that being closer to the pace than that trio may have lessened his closing kick in comparison. Now he has the chance to rectify that in the Preakness with 2024 Preakness-winning rider Jaime Torres aboard.
"He looks fantastic in the flesh, he's training well, he's got good energy," Mott said of how the Bolt d'Oro colt has emerged from the Derby. "On paper, I think there's going to be a pretty hot pace in it's own right and hopefully we can get comfortable and make a run."
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Ocelli nearly won the Derby, beaten only a length after taking command around the sixteenth pole. The son of Connect still seeks his first career win for owners Ashley Durr, Anthony Tate, and Front Page Equestrian, but trainer Whit Beckman believes jockey Tyler Gaffalione—who was riding Ocelli for the first time in the Derby—figured out the way the colt prefers to be ridden: dropping out the back and making a late run.
"It's the most effective way for him. His best races come when he has targets and when he can move late," Beckman said on the May 11 episode of BloodHorse Monday. "We've tried a few things to get him a little more engaged early, but I think we take him out of his natural rhythm. (The Kentucky Derby) was his best race by far. Tyler just really figured out where he fell into it and was just letting him travel through that comfortably. I think a couple other times we were trying to maybe force him into something he didn't want to be doing."
Another horse who has proven to be effective late is Peachtree Stable and Mark Corrado's Bull by the Horns, who overcame a 9 3/4-length deficit in the Rushaway Stakes over Turfway Park's Tapeta track to win by a half-length.
Laurel Park, Saturday, May 16, 2026, Race 13Entries: Preakness S. (G1)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Taj Mahal (FL) Sheldon Russell 126 Brittany T. Russell 5/1 2 2Ocelli (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 126 D. Whitworth Beckman 6/1 3 3Crupper (KY) Junior Alvarado 126 Donnie K. Von Hemel 30/1 4 4Robusta (KY) Rafael Bejarano 126 Doug F. O'Neill 30/1 5 5Talkin (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 126 Danny Gargan 20/1 6 6Chip Honcho (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 126 Steven M. Asmussen 5/1 7 7The Hell We Did (KY) Luis Saez 126 Todd W. Fincher 15/1 8 8Bull by the Horns (KY) Micah J. Husbands 126 Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. 30/1 9 9Iron Honor (KY) Flavien Prat 126 Chad C. Brown 9/2 10 10Napoleon Solo (KY) Paco Lopez 126 Chad Summers 8/1 11 11Corona de Oro (KY) John R. Velazquez 126 Dallas Stewart 30/1 12 12Incredibolt (KY) Jaime A. Torres 126 Riley Mott 5/1 13 13Great White (KY) Alex Achard 126 John Ennis 15/1 14 14Pretty Boy Miah (KY) Ricardo Santana, Jr. 126 Jeremiah C. Englehart 15/1
