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The Preakness, the middle jewel of Thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown for three-year-olds, was first held on May 27, 2025 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, which served as the race’s home until 1889 and then every year since 1909.

After various changes in distance and date, the Preakness has been run at 1 3/16 miles since 1925 and its placement on the third Saturday in May firmly established since the 1950s.

On-track crowds in excess of 100,000 are common for the Preakness, which also attracts television ratings that are second only to the Kentucky Derby in size (except when a Triple Crown is on the line in the Belmont Stakes) for an individual race in the U.S. A record crowd of 131,680 witnessed American Pharoah capture the 2015 Preakness en route to his Triple Crown sweep.

In addition to the 12 Triple Crown winners, the Preakness has been won by 23 other winners of the Kentucky Derby.

A horse many experts consider the best of the 20^th century, Man o’ War, captured the 1920 Preakness in his season debut after bypassing the Kentucky Derby. The once-beaten “Big Red” was followed a half-century later by another colt who shared that nickname: Secretariat (1973). The latter continues to hold the stakes record time of 1:53.

Fillies have won the Preakness five times, with Rachel Alexandra the most recent after she snapped an 85-year drought in 2009.

The connections of the Preakness winner are awarded replicas of the Woodlawn Vase. Designed by Tiffany and Company in 1860, the trophy is considered the most valuable in all of American sports.

Pari-mutuel wagering on the Preakness has been offered for more than a century. As of 2015, 72 betting favorites have won the race, with Citation (1948) and Spectacular Bid (1979) the shortest-priced winners paying $2.20.

Due to various factors, such as size and composition of the field, the Preakness has rarely fallen prey to extreme longshots. The highest-priced winner in the race’s history, Master Derby (1975), returned only $48.80. The second highest-priced winner was Coventry, who paid $45.60 way back in 1925.

The Preakness is typically the second or third most-wagered on race in the country.