Preakness 2026: Addition of Incredibolt increases field to 14

Incredibolt, the sixth-place finisher from the Kentucky Derby, will race in the Preakness.

The addition of Incredibolt was confirmed by the Maryland Jockey Club to Horse Racing Nation on Monday afternoon. This means that even with the defection of Silent Tactic on Monday morning, the list of expected runners in Saturday's Preakness Stakes consists of a full field of 14 horses. The field will be the biggest since 2011, when Shackleford held off Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom to win.

The addition of Incredibolt to the Preakness picture means three Kentucky Derby runners will contest the Preakness as he's joined by Ocelli and Robusta.

Incredibolt, the Grade 3 Street Sense winner at age 2 for trainer Riley Mott, was sixth and last behind Nearly in the Holy Bull (G3) in his seasonal debut, but improved to win the Virginia Derby on March 14 in his second start of the year. At 23.7-1 odds in the Kentucky Derby, Incredibolt settled off the pace and though he had to alter out around a long line of horses into the lane, he sustained his rally under jockey Jaime Torres and crossed the wire sixth, four lengths behind Golden Tempo.

“The horse is doing extremely well,” Mott told the Maryland Jockey Club on Monday afternoon. “He came out of the Derby in good shape, and we have been clocking the field of (Preakness) horses and we thought it would be the right opportunity to try the horse back.”

Mott plans to train Incredibolt at Churchill on Tuesday morning and then van him to Maryland for the Preakness, with an expected arrival Wednesday morning, according to a news release sent by the Maryland Jockey Club. They also confirmed that Jaime Torres, who has ridden Incredibolt in all six of his races including the Kentucky Derby, will retain the mount. Torres has ridden in the Preakness once before: he won the race in 2024 with Seize the Grey.

The other two Kentucky Derby runners in the Preakness field were the two longest shots on the board in the run for the roses. Ocelli, the lone maiden in the projected Preakness field and the longest shot in the Kentucky Derby at 70.5-1, finished a close third in both the Wood Memorial (G2) and the Kentucky Derby. Both times Ocelli rallied from well off a sharp pace. Robusta, the second-longest shot on the Kentucky Derby board, was bumped early and got nowhere near his favored spot near the lead. As the 70-1 second-longest shot in the field, he finished 14th behind Golden Tempo.

Great White was entered in the run for the roses but was scratched at the gate after rearing and flipping. Trainer John Ennis said after the incident that Great White and jockey Alex Achard came out of it unscathed, and the big grey son of Volatile returned to the work tab Saturday at The Thoroughbred Center with an easy drill.

Corona de Oro also was entered in the Kentucky Derby, but with only six qualification points from his third-place finish in the Lexington (G3), he was four deep on the also-eligible list. He did not draw into the main Kentucky Derby field since there were only three scratches before the Friday-morning scratch deadline. Corona de Oro risked being on the outside looking in for the Preakness as well, but the defections of Express Kid and Smoovin on Saturday meant there would be room for Corona de Oro.

The weekend defections also made room for Pretty Boy Miah, a Jeremiah Englehart trainee who will make his stakes debut in the Preakness. It took him three starts to break his maiden, but he graduated by 6 1/2 lengths at Aqueduct on March 29 and followed that up with an optional-claiming win there April 25.

The Preakness will be drawn Monday at 5 p.m. EDT. The draw will be livestreamed on the Maryland Racing YouTube channel.