50 Fun Facts About Preakness Stakes

Which Triple Crown winner holds the Preakness Stakes speed record, made official only 39 years after the race?

Secretariat ran 1:53 in 1973, but a damaged infield timer showed 1:55, and the record was not confirmed until a 2012 review of the race film.

In the 2019 Preakness Stakes, Bodexpress ran the whole course after losing what at the starting gate?

His rider, John Velazquez, was thrown unhurt at the start, and Bodexpress kept galloping until an outrider caught him after the finish.

Why has no real black-eyed Susan ever been used in the blanket draped over the Preakness Stakes winner?

They bloom too late: Maryland's state flower opens in late June or July, weeks after the race, so the blanket is made of yellow chrysanthemums instead.

After each Preakness Stakes, a painter climbs a ladder to repaint what in the winning owner's colors?

A weather vane shaped like a horse and jockey gets the new colors, a custom begun in 1909. The vane was the only thing saved when Pimlico's old clubhouse burned down in 1966.

In 1877, which body shut down for a day so its members could watch a three-horse race at Pimlico?

The US Congress adjourned for the Great Race, a 2½-mile contest between the champions Ten Broeck, Tom Ochiltree and Parole. The gelding Parole won with a late run.

The old Maryland state song, sung before the Preakness Stakes until 2020, uses the tune of which Christmas carol?

O Tannenbaum shares its German folk melody with the song, which the race dropped in 2020 because it celebrates the Confederacy. Maryland retired it as state song a year later.

Which jeweler made the Preakness Stakes trophy in 1860, a silver piece later appraised as priceless?

Tiffany & Co. made it for a Kentucky racecourse, and it was buried for safety during the Civil War. It has been the Preakness prize since 1917.

Which underdog beat Triple Crown winner War Admiral in a 1938 two-horse match race at Pimlico?

Seabiscuit won by four lengths over the Preakness distance of 1 3/16 miles, with about 40,000 people at the track and some 40 million listening on the radio.

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the 2020 Preakness Stakes from May to which month, with no spectators allowed?

October 3 was the new date, four weeks after a delayed Kentucky Derby, so that year the Preakness closed the Triple Crown series instead of sitting in the middle.

Kegasus, the beer-bellied mascot created for the 2011 Preakness Stakes infield, was which mythical creature?

A centaur, despite a name that blends keg and Pegasus: he had no wings. Critics said the nipple-ringed mascot glorified binge drinking.

Pimlico Race Course, the traditional home of the Preakness Stakes, stands in which Maryland city?

Baltimore's track opened in 1870, and about 12,000 people came on the first day, many of them on special race trains laid on by the railway.

Which 2006 Kentucky Derby winner shattered a hind leg moments after the start of the Preakness Stakes?

Barbaro had already burst through the gate in a false start before the injury. His eight-month fight to recover was reported daily, and ended when he was put down in January 2007.

Which legendary colt skipped the 1920 Kentucky Derby and began his season by winning the Preakness Stakes?

Man o' War never raced in Kentucky because owner Samuel Riddle thought ten furlongs too far so early in the year. He beat a rival named Upset by a length and a half.

Which Kentucky Derby winner took the 2015 Preakness Stakes in a thunderstorm that had cleared the infield?

American Pharoah led all the way through the downpour, and three weeks later became the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.

Which Kentucky Derby winner splashed home in the 2018 Preakness Stakes through fog that hid much of the race?

Justify held off the fast-closing Bravazo by half a length with visibility down to a sixteenth of a mile, and three weeks later he completed the Triple Crown.

Which trainer won the Preakness Stakes for a record eighth time in 2023, with a colt named National Treasure?

Bob Baffert won his first with Silver Charm in 1997, so his eight wins span 26 years. Two of his Preakness winners went on to complete the Triple Crown.

Which filly beat Derby winner Mine That Bird in the 2009 Preakness Stakes, ending an 85-year drought for females?

Rachel Alexandra won by a length under Calvin Borel, who had ridden Mine That Bird in the Derby. He became the first jockey to win both races on different horses in one year.

Pimlico legend says a jockey once untied a bag of gold coins hung over the finish, inspiring which racing term?

Purse is the word the tale claims, along with the finish wire the bag hung from. It is only a story: prize money had been called that for more than a century.

The Preakness Stakes left Maryland in the 1890s for Gravesend Race Track, in which New York City borough?

Brooklyn kept the race until it returned to Pimlico in 1909. An 1890 running at Morris Park in the Bronx was won by a five-year-old, the only Preakness winner who was not aged three.

What is the name of the Preakness Stakes trophy, kept in an art museum and brought out only for the ceremony?

The Woodlawn Vase is 36 inches of solid silver, and no owner has taken it home since 1953, when the winner's wife declined the responsibility of keeping it for a year.

Which colt won the first Preakness Stakes in 1873 by ten lengths, a margin unbeaten for 131 years?

Survivor was an 11–1 outsider who had lost both his races as a two-year-old. He beat six rivals two years before the Kentucky Derby was first run.

Which Kentucky Derby winner took the 2004 Preakness Stakes by 11½ lengths, breaking a margin record set in 1873?

Smarty Jones was unbeaten at the time, but three weeks later the 36–1 shot Birdstone ran him down in the Belmont, the only time in his career he was passed in a race.

Which filly beat Kentucky Derby winner Authentic in the 2020 Preakness Stakes, run without a single spectator?

Swiss Skydiver became only the sixth filly to win the race, and her time was the second-fastest the Preakness had seen.

Which colt won the 1919 Preakness Stakes four days after the Kentucky Derby, en route to the first Triple Crown?

Sir Barton had never won a race before that Derby, and he led all the way in both. Nobody called the feat a Triple Crown until years afterwards.

Which 1930 Triple Crown winner took the Preakness Stakes before the Kentucky Derby, the reverse of today's order?

Gallant Fox won at Pimlico first and in Louisville eight days later. The Derby has come first in every season since 1932.

Which colt nearly fell to his knees after clipping heels in the 2005 Preakness Stakes, yet recovered to win?

Afleet Alex's nose came within an inch of the dirt when the leader Scrappy T swerved into his path. Jockey Jeremy Rose stayed aboard and they won by nearly five lengths.

Which jockey won the Preakness Stakes six times between 1941 and 1957, twice on Triple Crown winners?

Eddie Arcaro's six wins set the record for jockeys, and his sweeps on Whirlaway and Citation made him the only jockey to win the Triple Crown twice.

Which trainer was 88 when Seize the Grey won the 2024 Preakness Stakes, his seventh victory in the race?

D. Wayne Lukas had won his first Preakness 44 years earlier with Codex. Seize the Grey led from start to finish on a muddy track as one of the outsiders in the field.

Which Maryland track hosted the 2026 Preakness Stakes, won by Napoleon Solo, while Pimlico was being rebuilt?

Laurel Park staged the race for the first time in its history, and the Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo skipped it, ending any Triple Crown bid.

Which nickname is used for Pimlico Race Course, the Maryland track that opened in 1870?

Old Hilltop comes from a small rise in the infield that became a favorite gathering place for trainers and racing fans.

The colt Preakness earned a famous race its name by winning which event on Pimlico's opening day in 1870?

The Dinner Party Stakes grew out of an 1868 meal in Saratoga Springs, where owners agreed to race their yearlings two years on, with the winner hosting the losers.

The colt Preakness, namesake of the Preakness Stakes, was named after his owner's farm in which state?

New Jersey's Preakness district, where owner Milton Sanford kept his horses, is said to take its name from an indigenous phrase meaning quail woods.

Why did the 1918 Preakness Stakes produce two winners, after 26 horses were entered?

It ran in two divisions, each with its own winner, because the field was too big for a single race. Entries were later capped at 14 horses.

English settlers in the 1660s named the Pimlico area after what kind of London establishment?

A tavern called Olde Ben Pimlico's gave the district its name, two centuries before the racetrack opened there in 1870.

Oden Bowie, the horseman who gave the Preakness Stakes its name, served as which Maryland official from 1869?

Governor until 1872, Bowie was an avid horseman who led the Pimlico Jockey Club for nineteen years and bred a champion two-year-old called Crickmore.

Which colt finished second to Affirmed in the 1978 Preakness Stakes and both other Triple Crown races?

Alydar lost the Preakness by a neck and the three races by less than two lengths combined, with the margin shrinking every time.

Which Kentucky Derby winner beat his great rival Easy Goer by a nose in the 1989 Preakness Stakes?

Sunday Silence and Easy Goer fought the length of the stretch, and the broadcaster Jim McKay later called it the best race he had ever witnessed.

Cañonero II, shock winner of the 1971 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, shipped in from which country?

Venezuela took the crooked-legged colt after he sold for just $1,200 as a yearling. Experts who called his Derby win a fluke then watched him set a Preakness track record.

Which 80–1 Kentucky Derby winner skipped the 2022 Preakness Stakes, giving up any chance of the Triple Crown?

Rich Strike's owner called the race very tempting but kept to his plan of waiting for the Belmont. Early Voting won at Pimlico in his absence.

Which stable, famous for devil's red and blue silks, owned Preakness Stakes winners Whirlaway and Citation?

Calumet Farm is the race's leading owner. After a 45-year gap it returned to the winner's circle with Oxbow in 2013, by then racing in black and gold.

At 1 3/16 miles, how does the Preakness Stakes compare in distance with the other two Triple Crown races?

It is the shortest of the three: the Kentucky Derby is a sixteenth of a mile longer, and the Belmont is traditionally a full mile and a half.

What did Pimlico stop fans bringing into the Preakness Stakes infield in 2009, sending attendance below 78,000?

Their own alcohol had long been welcome, by the coolerful, and crowds had topped 100,000 for eight straight years before the ban.

Which 1964 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner became one of the century's most successful sires?

Northern Dancer was the first Canadian-bred horse to win the Derby, and after finishing third in the Belmont he went home to a hero's welcome.

Which jockey won five Preakness Stakes, including three in a row from 1994 to 1996, yet only one Kentucky Derby?

Pat Day's habit of waiting for a late run earned him the nickname Patient Pat, and his single Derby win came from 22 attempts.

Which colt caught Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense in the final stride of the 2007 Preakness Stakes?

Curlin had stumbled leaving the gate and was a length and a half down with a furlong to run. He went on to be Horse of the Year twice.

Which network first televised the Preakness Stakes, in 1948, the year Citation won the Triple Crown?

CBS showed that first broadcast, and in 1973 its side-by-side replays of two Preakness runs fed a long dispute over the winner's time.

Which Kentucky Derby runner-up won the 2025 Preakness Stakes, the last at Pimlico before its demolition?

Journalism went off as the even-money favorite in a field of nine, and work to tear down the old track began two months after his win.

Which champion sire, father of the colt Preakness, is modelled in silver on top of the Preakness Stakes trophy?

Lexington was the leading sire in North America sixteen times despite going blind, which earned him the name the Blind Hero of Woodburn.

Which filly won both the 1924 Preakness Stakes and the Pimlico race now called the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes?

Nellie Morse was the fourth filly to win the Preakness, and no other managed it for 85 years. She is the only winner of both races.

Which colt won the 2006 Preakness Stakes easily, a victory overshadowed by the Derby winner's injury?

Bernardini was having only the fourth race of his life. Sheikh Mohammed's stable then skipped the Belmont, saying the colt deserved a break.