2026 Preakness Stakes Field Preview and Poll

With Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo skipping the race and the Preakness Stakes temporarily moving to Laurel Park, this year’s middle jewel feels wide open . Check out our full field preview and vote in our reader poll for who you think gets it done Saturday.

The 151st running of the Preakness Stakes feels unusually wide open, which is exactly what happens when the Kentucky Derby winner skips town and the race itself relocates for the first time in more than a century.

Saturday’s $2 million Preakness will be run at Laurel Park instead of its traditional home at Pimlico Race Course while Pimlico undergoes renovations. It marks the first time since 1908 that the race won’t be held at Old Hilltop, and between the venue change and the absence of Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo, this year’s race has a very different feel than the usual middle jewel of the Triple Crown.

Instead of a dominant Derby horse looming over the field, bettors are staring at one of the most competitive Preakness lineups in recent memory.

Morning-line favorite Iron Honor sits at just 9-2, with Taj Mahal, Chip Honcho, and Incredibolt all hovering around 5-1. Ocelli (the maiden who somehow nearly blew up the Kentucky Derby tote board) is sitting at 6-1 after his shocking third-place finish at Churchill Downs.

One respected handicapper leaning into that uncertainty is longtime racing analyst Gene Menez, whose Triple Crown picks have landed major payouts over the years, including nailing the 2015 Kentucky Derby superfecta and identifying longshot players like Mystik Dan before their breakout runs.

This year, though, Menez is reportedly fading the favorite entirely.

The concern with Iron Honor comes down to distance and experience. The Chad Brown trainee looked brilliant in shorter races earlier this spring, including a Grade I Gotham Stakes victory, but things unraveled quickly when he stretched out to 1 1/8 miles in the Wood Memorial, where he faded badly to finish seventh. And if 1 1/8 miles exposed stamina questions, the 1 3/16-mile Preakness certainly isn’t going to make life easier.

There’s also an interesting historical parallel here: Iron Honor’s sire, Nyquist, entered the Preakness undefeated and favored in 2016 before suffering the first loss of his career in Baltimore.

That doesn’t automatically doom Iron Honor, but it does add another layer of caution in a race where bettors are desperately trying to separate legitimate contenders from horses simply benefiting from a softer field.

Meanwhile, one horse generating sneaky interest as a live longshot is The Hell We Did at 15-1 (and I won’t lie — this might be one I bet on just because of his name… follow me for more betting advice).

The son of Authentic has quietly been putting together a solid résumé, including a runner-up effort in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland. More importantly, his connections reportedly shipped into Laurel early, giving the colt additional time to settle into the surface and surroundings, something that could matter more than usual with the Preakness being held at a temporary venue.

The Hell We Did also profiles as the kind of horse that could get the ideal Preakness trip: close enough to the pace to avoid traffic, but not caught up in a potentially contested early battle.

And with only three Kentucky Derby runners returning — Ocelli, Robusta, and Incredibolt — freshness could matter quite a bit Saturday.

That smaller group of Derby returners is becoming increasingly common in modern racing. Trainers are more conservative than ever with spacing, and many now prefer targeting individual Triple Crown races rather than grinding through the entire series.

Still, that reality creates opportunity for newer shooters and improving horses.

At Laurel especially, tactical positioning and comfort over the surface could become major factors. Horses like Taj Mahal — undefeated locally — suddenly become a lot more interesting when nobody really knows how this temporary version of the Preakness will play.

Check out the full field below. And don’t forget to cast your vote on who you think will take the Preakness Stakes!

Who do you think will win the 2026 Preakness Stakes? Let us know!