First Look: 7 graded stakes set Preakness week 2026 table

Two Saturdays past the run for the roses, the Triple Crown trail rolls into Maryland for act two. Pimlico is mid-renovation, so Laurel Park gets the keys this year. Anyone planning to clock in only for Preakness 2026 is leaving a stack of action on the table.

Friday's Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan anchors the supporting cast for the 3-year-old fillies, with Steve Asmussen's Braken Poppa stretching a four-race winning streak into her first start against open company. She'll have to handle a Saffie Joseph Jr. shipper coming off back-to-back Grade 2 runner-up efforts at Gulfstream Park plus a Laurel-based pair exiting the Weber City Miss.

Seven graded stakes across two tracks Friday and Saturday give horseplayers no shortage of angles before the gates spring for the middle jewel.

Friday

Black-Eyed Susan (G2), Laurel Park, 1 1/8 miles, fillies, 3-year-olds

Trainer Steve Asmussen's Braken Poppa enters chasing her fifth straight victory and her first try against open company. The Louisiana-bred won her last four starts at Fair Grounds, capped by a wire-to-wire score in the Crescent City Oaks for an 80 Beyer Speed Figure, according to Daily Racing Form. She faces a Laurel-based pair sharpened in the Weber City Miss, taken by Amelia Green's Ivy Girl in her stakes debut over A. P.'s Girl, with Michael Gorham's Miss Fulton Gal fourth after a wide trip. Peter Eurton's A. P.'s Girl had rattled off back-to-back dirt wins at Fair Grounds before her Laurel runner-up effort. Saffie Joseph Jr.'s My Miss Mo shipped in after a pair of Grade 2 runner-up finishes at Gulfstream Park, including a second to Prom Queen in the Gulfstream Park Oaks for an 85 Beyer, which topped the field.

Pimlico Special (G3), Laurel Park, 1 3/16 miles, 3-year-olds and up

Trainer Linda Rice's Yo Daddy posted a 1 3/4-length victory in the Excelsior at Aqueduct on April 4, earning a career-best 95 Beyer Speed Figure. The 5-year-old son of Yoshida built a 3: 2-1-0 record in 2026. His lone defeat was a 1-length runner-up finish in the Stymie at Aqueduct.

Miss Preakness (G3), Laurel Park, 6 furlongs, fillies, 3-year-olds

Three-for-four at Laurel, Peach Tie won the Wide Country Stakes and Gin Talking Stakes during a four-race winning streak before finishing second by a head to Miss Fulton Gal in the Beyond the Wire Stakes on March 21. A homebred for the estate of Brereton Jones, trainer Brittany Russell's filly compiles a 5-for-7 lifetime record with earnings of $249,995. 

Saturday

Dinner Party (G3), Laurel Park, 1 1/8 miles, turf, 3-year-olds and up

A year ago at Pimlico, Fort Washington captured the Dinner Party by a length over Cash Equity, with Desvio third. Trainer Shug McGaughey's 7-year-old followed with a victory in the Arlington Million (G1) at Colonial Downs on Aug. 9 over Grand Sonata and Integration. The War Front horse finished sixth in the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) on Jan. 24.

Maryland Sprint (G3), Laurel Park, 6 furlongs, 3-year-olds and up

Slam Notion captured three sprint stakes in 2025 at Laurel and Colonial Downs, including the Maryland Million Sprint and the Howard and Sondra Bender Memorial, for trainer Robbie Bailes. The Maryland-bred most recently finished fourth in the General George on Feb. 14 at Laurel.

Gallorette (G3), Laurel Park, 1 1/16 miles, turf, fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up

Sent off as the favorite, Ribaltagaia ran third in the Dahlia Stakes at Laurel on April 18, finishing within a length of winner Summerintahoe after tracking the pace. The Kentucky-bred 5-year-old returned from a seven-month layoff for that effort. Trainer Graham Motion's mare set the pace and finished second in the Violet Stakes at Monmouth Park last August.

Louisville (G3), Churchill Downs, 1 1/2 miles, turf, 4-year-olds and up

Burnham Square rolled to a 9 3/4-length victory in the Elkhorn (G2) at Keeneland on April 18, earning a 107 Beyer Speed Figure. Trainer Ian Wilkes's 4-year-old Liam's Map gelding captured the 2025 Blue Grass Stakes (G1) and Holy Bull (G3). The Whitham Thoroughbreds homebred finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby 2025 and second in the Nashville Derby (G3).