The Preakness Stakes is set to boast its largest lineup in 15 years, featuring 14 horses vying for victory in the second leg of horse racing’s prestigious Triple Crown. Just weeks after a historic Kentucky Derby where the winning trainer was a woman for the first time, the Preakness presents an opportunity for another trainer to make history.
No contender in the Maryland race will capture the Triple Crown this year, which includes the Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes in New York. This is because Golden Tempo, the Derby champion, has opted out of the Preakness. This marks the third instance in five years where the Derby winner has not participated in the Preakness, known as the Run for the Black-Eyed Susans.
2026 Preakness Stakes horses and odds
Iron Honor has been named the morning-line favorite for the Preakness at 9-2 odds following Monday’s post-position draw for the 1 3/16-mile challenge. It’s important to note that these odds could shift as betting intensifies before the race, scheduled to start around 7:01 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Here’s the lineup of horses competing in the Preakness, listed by post position and their morning-line odds:
- 1. Taj Mahal, 5-1
- 2. Ocelli, 6-1
- 3. Crupper, 30-1
- 4. Robusta, 30-1
- 5. Talkin, 20-1
- 6. Chip Honcho, 5-1
- 7. The Hell We Did, 15-1
- 8. Bull by the Horns, 30-1
- 9. Iron Honor, 9-2
- 10. Napoleon Solo, 8-1
- 11. Corona de Oro, 30-1
- 12. Incredibolt, 5-1
- 13. Great White, 15-1
- 14. Pretty Boy Miah, 15-1
The last instance of 14 competitors in the Preakness was in 2011, when Shackleford narrowly defeated Derby winner Animal Kingdom by half a length.
One significant change this year is the location. The Preakness will take place at Maryland’s Laurel Park, situated between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, which has been its venue since 1909. This move is temporary, as Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course undergoes redevelopment, with plans for the Preakness to return to the new Pimlico next year.
Iron Honor didn’t race in the Derby on the first Saturday of May at its home of Churchill Downs in Louisville. The bay colt won the Gotham Stakes at New York City’s Aqueduct Racetrack in February. He didn’t fare as well in the Wood Memorial Stakes at Aqueduct last month, coming in seventh behind fellow Preakness contenders Ocelli and Napoleon Solo, who finished third and fifth, respectively.
Jockey Flavien Prat, who was aboard 10th-place finisher Emerging Market in the Derby, will ride Iron Honor in the Preakness. The colt will be Prat’s fourth mount in the race. The 33-year-old rode Rombauer to victory in 2021 and came in third with Catching Freedom in 2024. Last year, he came in fourth place aboard Goal Oriented.
Iron Honor’s trainer, Chad Brown, is chasing his third Preakness victory after seeing Early Voting win in 2022 and Cloud Computing in 2017.
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Three horses were right behind Iron Honor in the morning line with 5-1 odds each: Chip Honcho, Incredibolt and Taj Mahal.
Trainer Brittany Russell has a chance to make history at the Preakness with Taj Mahal two weeks after Cherie DeVaux became the first woman to train a Derby winner with Golden Tempo.
Russell will become the 17th woman to saddle a Preakness horse and the first since 2019, when Alwaysmining, trained by Kelly Rubley, came in 11th. The closest a woman has come to training a Preakness winner was in 2002, when the Nancy Alberts-trained Magic Weisner finished in second place, three-quarters of a length behind the winner, War Emblem.
Taj Mahal comes into the Preakness undefeated, having won three races at his home track of Laurel Park, including February’s Miracle Wood Stakes and the Federico Tesio Stakes last month.
One difference between those races and the Preakness is that the bay colt will start from the No. 1 post. While the post is the closest position in the starting gate to the inside of the racetrack, it comes with the risk of horses being boxed in between the rail and the rest of the field early in the race.
“You know it’s funny. I said to myself, the only spot I was hoping not to be was the rail,” Russell said after the post-position draw, according to a news release. “It’s OK. It’s all good.”
Her husband, Sheldon Russell, rode Taj Mahal in his three victories, and he’ll have the mount for the Preakness. It’ll be the 38-year-old’s fourth time in the race, with his most recent also being his best finish with Chase the Chaos, who came in fifth in 2023.
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Chip Honcho skipped the Derby for the Preakness. The decision to bypass the Derby came in late April amid the runup to the Triple Crown opener after the dark bay colt finished fifth in March’s Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans.
Chip Honcho had seen some success at Fair Grounds before the Derby, winning the Gun Runner Stakes in December and finishing second at the Risen Star Stakes on Valentine’s Day. The colt also came in fourth at the Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds in January.
Jose Ortiz, who was aboard Golden Tempo for his Derby victory as well as the winner of the all-filly Kentucky Oaks a day earlier, will ride Chip Honcho in the Preakness. This year’s race will be the seventh for the 32-year-old, who had the mount when Early Voting won in 2022 and when Good Magic came in fourth in 2018.
Chip Honcho will be the 18th Preakness contender trained by Steve Asmussen. He’s also looking for a return to the winner’s circle after going there twice, with Rachel Alexandra in 2009 and Curlin in 2007.
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Incredibolt finished sixth in the Derby, behind the third-place Ocelli but ahead of fellow Preakness contender Robusta, who came in 14th. The dark bay colt won the Virginia Derby in March, beating Ocelli, who finished sixth. Incredibolt also won October’s Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs and finished last out of six horses in January’s Holy Bull Stakes in Florida.
Jaime Torres, who’s ridden Incredibolt throughout the colt’s racing career, will be eyeing his second Preakness win. The 27-year-old was aboard Seize the Grey during his wire-to-wire victory at Pimlico in 2024.
Incredibolt will be first Preakness horse saddled by trainer Riley Mott. His father, trainer Bill Mott, has run two horses in the race, most recently Riley Tucker, who finished 12th in 2008.
In addition to his performances in the Derby, the Wood Memorial and the Virginia Derby, Ocelli — who was given 6-1 odds in the morning line — also competed in Florida’s Sam F. Davis Stakes in February, coming in sixth.
Tyler Gaffalione will be aboard the bay colt for the Preakness. Ocelli was also under the 31-year-old for his third-place Derby finish. Saturday’s race will be Gaffalione’s fourth Preakness, his top result coming in 2024 with Tuscan Gold’s fourth-place finish. The race will be Whit Beckman’s first Preakness as a trainer.
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The Wood Memorial was the most recent race for Napoleon Solo, who got 8-1 odds in the morning line. Before that, the gray colt finished fifth in Florida’s Fountain of Youth Stakes in February ahead of fellow Preakness contender Bull by the Horns, who came in seventh. In October, Napoleon Solo won New York’s Champagne Stakes, beating Preakness rival Talkin, who came in second and was given 20-1 odds in the morning line for Saturday.
Paco Lopez will ride Napoleon Solo in what will be his second Preakness. The 40-year-old finished fifth aboard Max Player in 2020. The colt will be trainer Chad Summers’ first in the Preakness.
Three horses — Great White, Pretty Boy Miah and The Hell We Did — were given morning-line odds of 15-1.
Four more got 30-1 odds: Bull by the Horns, Corona de Oro, Crupper and Robusta.
