Preakness 2026: Great White’s Derby fall has him trending

Laurel, Md.

It was a trending moment that Alex Achard never wanted. The instant nearly two weeks ago when Great White reared and flipped as he was about to be loaded into the starting gate for the Kentucky Derby.

“Obviously it was heartbreaking for everyone involved,” said Achard, whose first run for the roses was not to be. “It wasn’t an easy thing to deal with, but at the end of the day, no one got hurt.

Flatter Pod: Previewing Preakness from Laurel Park.

In the two weeks since the giant gelding and his jockey were scratched but quickly pronounced fit, the Great White tale has resonated in a way that was unexpected. It will be told and retold as they try again to make a go of it, this time on Saturday in Preakness 2026.

“There was a big outpouring of concern for the horse and the rider,” trainer John Ennis said Friday morning at Laurel Park, the temporary site for Saturday’s classic. “But everything is good, and the horse is perfect.”

And he has gotten popular, too. Since 24.4 million NBC viewers saw him tumble backward to the ground and then bounce back up May 2, Great White has become a three-quarter-ton darling of the media and the mainstream public. So much so that in early betting for the Preakness, he showed up as a 7-1 third choice Friday afternoon, a stark contrast from his 15-1 morning-line odds.

“Maybe somewhere people are feeling bad about what happened,” said Achard, 34, a France native who hopes Saturday marks his first start in a Triple Crown race. “Now they want to just root for us after what happened.”

Both Ennis and Achard said they heard from longtime acquaintances who had been off their radar recently.

“I don’t know how many (texts) I got, to be honest,” said Ennis, 44, an Ireland native who owns Great White with majority partner Three Chimneys Farm. “We got a lot of phone calls and messages. Just a lot of concern, but in a good way, you know?”

Ennis also got some texts, but he had to be told about even more.

“My girlfriend got way more than I did, which was funny,” he said Thursday afternoon. “Enough people have been supportive about it. They are rooting for us. It was just a freak accident. That was it.”

The scary image of the biggest horse in the race losing his feet ended with a sigh heard around the country.

“I’ve taken worse falls out of bed,” Ennis said early this week.

It could have turned out badly. With obvious safety concerns, a scratch is virtually automatic if a horse falls and hits the ground with its hips, shoulders or head, even if doctors declare a clean bills of health right away for animal and human. Seasoned racegoers are well aware of this. But millions of people who watch the sport only one day a year are the ones who made the moment trend.

“People I wouldn’t have heard from at home, even from Europe and what not, were reaching out,” said Ennis, whose one Derby result came with Epic Ride’s 13th-place finish in 2024. “Just making sure that we were OK and very apologetic about what happened.”

Achard understandably fumed in televised disbelief when a personal milestone turned to helpless frustration. A little time has tamped that mood. Now he is trying to look at the bright side.

“In those situations, what you are trying to do is get the positive out of it, even if it’s hard to find,” he said. “That’s the best way to bounce off of it.”

While the broader public reaction has been mostly upbeat if also relieved, Ennis knows that is not a unanimous opinion.

“I take it all positively,” he said. “Everybody’s entitled to their opinion on what they think. That’s what makes the world go around. I’m on social media, but I don’t listen if people are negative or anything. But 99% of it is positive.”

Since Great White arrived from Kentucky on Wednesday, FanDuel TV analyst Andie Biancone literally has put on a riding hat to exercise him at Laurel.

“I can really see how the incident at the Derby happened, because he’s got a very light mouth,” Biancone said. “He’s got a super, super sensitive mouth but super kind. He’s a happy horse. He squeals.”

As would have been the case nearly two weeks ago, Ennis expects Achard to take Great White back to set up a late rally Saturday in the Preakness.

“He does not do anything in front,” Ennis said this week. “He needs targets. He needs something to be aiming at, so we’re going to give him that in the Preakness. Ride him to finish. Ride him to be running at them down the stretch.”

Achard concurred as he thought about what it will take to get the big son of Violence from post 13 to the winner’s circle.

“The race might go really fast, which is good for the closer,” he said Friday. “Not happy with the finish at the first wire (of the two at Laurel). It seems like a track that might be easier than Pimlico, because it’s bigger. But at the end of the day they’re all pretty much the same.”

Achard, who moved to America full time in 2018, rode Friday at Churchill Downs. He was scheduled to catch a flight early Saturday from Kentucky to Maryland, where the first Laurel race of his career will be the Preakness.

Ennis only could imagine the feedback he will see if Great White were to come through as a long shot, or not-so-long shot, in the Preakness.

“This reaction is the most I’ve ever had,” he said. “I think the whole thing is going to explode if he wins that.”