Preakness guide: Wide-open field, new venue, big opportunity

The 151st Preakness Stakes looks a little different Saturday as 14 3-year-olds go 1 3/16 miles on the main track at Laurel Park for the second jewel of the Triple Crown.

With Pimlico in process of rebuilding, the Grade 1 classic with a $2 million purse has set up shop temporarily at its Maryland neighbor, but the traditional buzz around Preakness has cranked up just the same.

New shooters? There are 10 of them this year, 11 if you count Great White, who was entered in the Derby but was a late scratch.

Derby horses? Although the top two finishers opted out, the 70-1 long-shot third-place finisher Ocelli in in, as well as sixth-place Incredibolt and 14th-place Robusta.

Tight turns? All week long the social media discourse has been about the two finish lines at Laurel and how the turns are banked.

At least the crab cakes and black-eyed Susans are still in play.

The Preakness Stakes is race 13, post time 7:01 p.m. EDT. The race will be on NBC beginning at 4 p.m. EDT and streaming on Peacock. Coverage of the undercard will be on Peacock and NBCSN beginning at 1 p.m.

Free past performances for the Preakness stakes are courtesy of Brisnet. 

Here are the top lifetime speed figures for the Preakness Stakes entrants.

*TimeformUS speed figures are provided courtesy of Daily Racing Form.

HRN handicappers

First, check out who the HRN writers and handicappers are choosing for their Preakness plays. 

HRN's Ed DeRosa has two long shots to use on your Preakness tickets whom nobody is talking about. Check them out and see his fair odds. 

Prognosticator Padraig Manocchio has the Preakness field projected from first to last. 

HorseCenter's Matt Shifman and Brian Zipse go in opposite directions with their top Preakness picks. 

Chip Gehrke says the Preakness is even more wide-open than the Derby – here are his rankings. 

Here are four keys for your Saturday horizontal wagers from Padraig Manocchio. 

On this week's Ron Flatter Racing Pod, an epic cast joins him to talk Preakness. Tune in for John Scheinman, trainers Whit Beckman and Steve Asmussen, handicapper David Levitch, plus John Cherwa and Keith Nelson. 

Finally, don't miss Caton Bredar, Mark Midland, Ed DeRosa and Ron Flatter for a hard-core Preakness handicapping session. 

Super Screener has the Preakness Stakes down to two horses. Find out who and how to play this wide-open race!

2026 Preakness Stakes G1