Preakness Stakes Odds

Pimlico is famous for many Preakness Stakes traditions.

The Black Eyed Susan is also the official drink of the Preakness Stakes. The yellow drink has bourbon, vodka, and orange juice as part of the makeup.

As soon as the race is official, a painter climbs a ladder to the horse and rider weather vane above the Preakness winner’s circle. Within minutes of the race, the winner’s silks decorate the weather vane and stay there all year as a reminder of who won Maryland’s biggest race.

Another entertaining Preakness Stakes tradition is the Alibi Breakfast. All of the owners, trainers and other connections of the runners meet at the track for breakfast on Thursday, where they tell jokes and offer up amusing excuses for losing before the race even happens. Media are honored at the event for their contributions to the sport, and tickets to the event are hard to come by.

The Preakness Stakes has been at 1 3/16 miles since 1925, but before that was run over varying distances from one mile to 1 ½ mile. It was even at 1 ¼ mile once, and 1 1/8 miles from 1911 to 1924.

Preakness Stakes Winners

The Preakness Stakes had one of the most eventful and memorable editions in recent years in 2015 when the skies opened up and the track was hit with a deluge of rain during the post parade. Undeterred by the sloppy racetrack, Kentucky Derby champion American Pharoah rolled to one of the most impressive victories of his career.

He would go on to become the first horse since 1978 to sweep the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes and win the Triple Crown, and later added the Breeders’ Cup Classic to complete racing’s Grand Slam.

The race has been won six times by fillies defeating male rivals, most recently in 2020 when Swiss Skydiver out gamed Kentucky Derby winner Authentic to take home the blanket of Black-Eyed Susans.

Smarty Jones earned the largest margin of victory at 11 1/2 lengths in 2004, with Survivor in 1873 winning by 10 lengths and Funny Cide in 2003 winning by 9 ¾ lengths. The untouchable Secretariat holds the speed record, finishing the race at 1:53:00 in 1973. Swiss Skydiver’s 2020 Preakness was the second-fastest in history; she ran the race in 1:53.28.

Preakness Stakes Fields

In 2016, Nyquist too faced a wet track but he did not excel over it like his predecessor, American Pharoah. Exaggerator romped over the off-track and denied Nyquist a chance at the Triple Crown.

Perhaps the most startling Preakness win of modern times was in 2005 when Afleet Alex, who had missed to Giacomo in the Kentucky Derby, stumbled to his knees at the top of the lane when 13-1 shot Scrappy T unexpectedly ducked out. Afleet Alex under Jeremy Rose recovered and rolled to a 4 ¾ length victory over Scrappy T and Giacomo. He went on to win the Belmont Stakes and later sired numerous stakes winners.

In 2019, War of Will gave trainer Mark Casse his first Triple Crown race win. The Canadian-based trainer has been enshrined in the Canadian Hall of Fame for years but had never won an American Triple Crown race. War of Will got it done over favored Improbable after Maximum Security bumped him hard in the Kentucky Derby, costing him all chance to win. Casse ended up winning the Belmont Stakes three weeks later but not with War of Will, instead stablemate Sir Winston surprised.

The most famous Preakness outside of Secretariat’s was in 1989 when Kentucky Derby winner Sunday Silence and future Belmont Stakes winner Easy Goer hooked up and battled the length of the stretch. They were noses apart all the way to the wire, with Sunday Silence winning. Easy Goer would upset his Triple Crown bid, but Sunday Silence would go on to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Both horses are in the Hall of Fame.

Years later in 2007, Derby winner Street Sense and upstart Curlin would put on a similar show, with Curlin narrowly winning and going on to take the Breeders’ Cup Classic and Dubai World Cup.

Preakness Stakes Winningest Trainers and Jockeys

The winningest Preakness trainers with seven wins apiece are R. Wyndham Walden and Bob Baffert. Walden won the Preakness seven times from 1875-1888, including five in a row. Baffert has won the Preakness in 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2010, 2015, and 2018 with names like American Pharoah, Justify, and Silver Charm.

The winningest Preakness jockey is Eddie Arcaro, who last won it in 1957. He has six wins, while the most wins in modern times were five by Pat Day, who won with Tank’s Prospect, Summer Squall, Tabasco Cat, Timber Country, and Louis Quatorze. Victor Espinoza has won three since 2002. The winningest owner and breeder both is Calumet Farm with seven, starting in 1941 and most recently with Oxbow in 2013.