Preakness Stakes
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50 free Preakness Stakes trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Preakness Stakes is the middle leg of American racing's Triple Crown, run over a mile and three sixteenths in Maryland each spring. It is where a Kentucky Derby winner either keeps the dream alive or loses it, and a century and a half of running has left it with more odd stories than most races: disputed clockings, runaway horses, storms, fog and a trophy too valuable to hand over. This quiz covers the race the way a Preakness Day crowd talks about it. There are questions on who holds the records for time, winning margin, and wins by a jockey and a trainer; on the champions, fillies and upsets that made the race famous; on Pimlico and how the race got its name; and on the traditions, from the flowers and the trophy to the song and the infield party. It works for a race-day party, a pub quiz round or a warm-up before the horses load. Most questions are pitched at casual fans, with a handful of deep cuts for people who know their racing history. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Triple Crown winner holds the Preakness Stakes speed record, made official only 39 years after the race?
Secretariat
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.
Q 02In the 2019 Preakness Stakes, Bodexpress ran the whole course after losing what at the starting gate?
His rider
His rider, John Velazquez, was thrown unhurt at the start, and Bodexpress kept galloping until an outrider caught him after the finish.
Q 03Why has no real black-eyed Susan ever been used in the blanket draped over the Preakness Stakes winner?
They bloom too late
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.
Q 04After each Preakness Stakes, a painter climbs a ladder to repaint what in the winning owner's colors?
A weather vane
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.
Q 05In 1877, which body shut down for a day so its members could watch a three-horse race at Pimlico?
The US Congress
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.
Q 06The old Maryland state song, sung before the Preakness Stakes until 2020, uses the tune of which Christmas carol?
O Tannenbaum
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.
Q 07Which jeweler made the Preakness Stakes trophy in 1860, a silver piece later appraised as priceless?
Tiffany & Co.
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.
Q 08Which underdog beat Triple Crown winner War Admiral in a 1938 two-horse match race at Pimlico?
Seabiscuit
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.
Q 09The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the 2020 Preakness Stakes from May to which month, with no spectators allowed?
October
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.
Q 10Kegasus, the beer-bellied mascot created for the 2011 Preakness Stakes infield, was which mythical creature?
A centaur
A centaur, despite a name that blends keg and Pegasus: he had no wings. Critics said the nipple-ringed mascot glorified binge drinking.
Q 11Pimlico Race Course, the traditional home of the Preakness Stakes, stands in which Maryland city?
Baltimore
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.
Q 12Which 2006 Kentucky Derby winner shattered a hind leg moments after the start of the Preakness Stakes?
Barbaro
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.
Q 13Which legendary colt skipped the 1920 Kentucky Derby and began his season by winning the Preakness Stakes?
Man o' War
Q 21Which colt won the first Preakness Stakes in 1873 by ten lengths, a margin unbeaten for 131 years?
Survivor
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.
Q 22Which Kentucky Derby winner took the 2004 Preakness Stakes by 11½ lengths, breaking a margin record set in 1873?
Smarty Jones
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.
Q 23Which filly beat Kentucky Derby winner Authentic in the 2020 Preakness Stakes, run without a single spectator?
Swiss Skydiver
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.
Q 14Which Kentucky Derby winner took the 2015 Preakness Stakes in a thunderstorm that had cleared the infield?
American Pharoah
American Pharoah led all the way through the downpour, and three weeks later became the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years.
Q 15Which Kentucky Derby winner splashed home in the 2018 Preakness Stakes through fog that hid much of the race?
Justify
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.
Q 16Which trainer won the Preakness Stakes for a record eighth time in 2023, with a colt named National Treasure?
Bob Baffert
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.
Q 17Which filly beat Derby winner Mine That Bird in the 2009 Preakness Stakes, ending an 85-year drought for females?
Rachel Alexandra
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.
Q 18Pimlico legend says a jockey once untied a bag of gold coins hung over the finish, inspiring which racing term?
Purse
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.
Q 19The Preakness Stakes left Maryland in the 1890s for Gravesend Race Track, in which New York City borough?
Brooklyn
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.
Q 20What is the name of the Preakness Stakes trophy, kept in an art museum and brought out only for the ceremony?
Woodlawn Vase
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.
Swiss Skydiver became only the sixth filly to win the race, and her time was the second-fastest the Preakness had seen.
Q 24Which colt won the 1919 Preakness Stakes four days after the Kentucky Derby, en route to the first Triple Crown?
Sir Barton
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.
Q 25Which 1930 Triple Crown winner took the Preakness Stakes before the Kentucky Derby, the reverse of today's order?
Gallant Fox
Gallant Fox won at Pimlico first and in Louisville eight days later. The Derby has come first in every season since 1932.
Q 26Which colt nearly fell to his knees after clipping heels in the 2005 Preakness Stakes, yet recovered to win?
Afleet Alex
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.
Q 27Which jockey won the Preakness Stakes six times between 1941 and 1957, twice on Triple Crown winners?
Eddie Arcaro
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.
Q 28Which trainer was 88 when Seize the Grey won the 2024 Preakness Stakes, his seventh victory in the race?
D. Wayne Lukas
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.
Q 29Which Maryland track hosted the 2026 Preakness Stakes, won by Napoleon Solo, while Pimlico was being rebuilt?
Laurel Park
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.
Q 30Which nickname is used for Pimlico Race Course, the Maryland track that opened in 1870?
Old Hilltop
Old Hilltop comes from a small rise in the infield that became a favorite gathering place for trainers and racing fans.