Preakness Stakes 2026: Crude Velocity Leads a Wide-Open Field at Laurel Park — Best Bets and Early Picks
The 2026 Preakness Stakes runs at Laurel Park with neither Golden Tempo nor Crude Velocity in the gate. Here are your best bets for a wide-open field.
The 151st Preakness Stakes runs Saturday, May 16, 2026 at Laurel Park in Maryland — not Pimlico Race Course, which is currently undergoing a full-scale reconstruction. It is the first time in the race\xe2\x80\x99s history that it will be contested outside of its longtime Old Hilltop home, adding an extra layer of intrigue to an already unpredictable renewal of the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown. The 1 3/16-mile Grade 1 goes as a $2 million event at 6:45 p.m. ET on NBC, and thanks to a string of high-profile defections from both sides of the Triple Crown trail, this is shaping up to be one of the most genuinely open Preakness fields in recent memory.
Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo will not be making the two-week turnaround, and neither will Crude Velocity, the unbeaten Pat Day Mile winner who briefly held the top spot in the futures market before trainer Bob Baffert announced on May 8 that the colt would point instead toward the Woody Stephens and Haskell. None of the 18 horses who ran at Churchill Downs on Derby Day will take the gate at Laurel. What is left is a field of fresh shooters, local specialists, and horses that skipped the Derby specifically with the Preakness in mind — and that combination makes handicapping this race both tricky and full of value.
A Leaderless Morning Line at a New Track
With Crude Velocity out, the race opens without a dominant chalk. Taj Mahal enters as the morning-line favorite at 7/2 under trainer Brittany Russell, followed by Kentucky Derby scratch Silent Tactic at 4/1 for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse. Third on the morning line is Ocelli at 5/1, who surprised the racing world with a third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby despite being sent off at 70-1 odds. Chip Honcho, trained by Steve Asmussen, comes in at 11/2 after bypassing the Derby entirely. Iron Honor for Chad Brown rounds out the short end of the morning line at 10/1. From there, the field spreads into 11/1 and longer territory, reflecting just how wide open the race truly is. If you are looking for a spot to shop for a DraftKings Promo Code or shop the FanDuel Promo Code ahead of Saturday, this is a race that rewards doing your homework.
The Horses Who Made This Race Their Target
Taj Mahal is the most compelling story in the field. Trained by Brittany Russell, who has been Maryland\xe2\x80\x99s leading trainer each of the last three years, this Nyquist colt is a perfect 3-for-3 and has raced exclusively at Laurel Park throughout his career. He won the Federico Tesio Stakes on April 18 by 8.25 lengths in his two-turn debut, posting a 121 Beyer Speed Figure and earning an automatic berth into the Preakness. Every breeze, every work, every race of his life has been on this exact track. In a year when the Preakness has relocated to Laurel for the first time, that home-track advantage is impossible to dismiss.
Silent Tactic arrives here with something to prove after a frustrating spring. The Mark Casse trainee, owned by John Oxley, missed the Kentucky Derby after being scratched with a minor foot issue and has been pointing toward the Preakness ever since. A natural closer with a record of six starts and six top-two finishes, Silent Tactic ran second in the Arkansas Derby before the foot issue surfaced. Jockey Cristian Torres is expected to be back aboard. Casse, who won the 2019 Preakness Stakes with War of Will, knows this distance well. The 4/1 morning-line number is fair value for a fresh horse with stakes-caliber form.
Ocelli made headlines in the Kentucky Derby as the race\xe2\x80\x99s longest shot at 70-1, finishing third under trainer Whit Beckman. While it is fair to wonder how much of that effort was a product of pace scenario versus true ability, a graded-stakes top-three finish earns him a legitimate place in the conversation here. Chip Honcho (11/2) for Steve Asmussen is the kind of fresh horse that the Preakness often rewards. He won the Gun Runner Stakes and was a close second in the Risen Star at Fair Grounds before his camp bypassed the Derby with this race squarely in mind.
What the Scratches Did to This Field
The domino effect of defections has fundamentally changed the complexion of this race. When Golden Tempo\xe2\x80\x99s trainer Cherie DeVaux announced on May 6 that the Derby winner would skip the Preakness and point toward the Belmont Stakes on June 6, citing the horse\xe2\x80\x99s health and long-term future, it removed the only legitimate Triple Crown threat from the picture. That opened the door for Crude Velocity to step into the role of heavy favorite. Then, just two days later, Bob Baffert confirmed his own horse would also pass, saying the two-week turnaround was simply too quick after the Pat Day Mile effort. With Crude Velocity out, Baffert will go without a Preakness starter for the first time since 2022.
The result is a Preakness field in which the morning-line favorite is a horse who has never left the state of Maryland. In the past five Preakness renewals, three winners went off at 15-1 or longer, so a wide-open betting market is not without historical precedent. But the unusual circumstance of a relocated venue, a no-show Derby winner, and a scratched futures favorite creates a situation where local knowledge may carry outsized importance. Laurel Park features a one-mile oval with a configuration different from Pimlico\xe2\x80\x99s traditional layout, and horses that have already proven they can handle this surface should get extra credit on the morning line.
Best Bets for the 2026 Preakness Stakes
Here are our top plays for Saturday\xe2\x80\x99s 151st running of the Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park.
- Win Bet: Taj Mahal at 7/2 — Three-for-three with all three starts at Laurel Park, posted a sharp 121 Beyer in the Federico Tesio, and carries the backing of Maryland\xe2\x80\x99s top trainer. Home-track advantage is real at a venue every other horse in this field is encountering for the first time.
- Exacta: Taj Mahal / Silent Tactic — A fresh-off-the-bench closer with a Grade 1 prep and a Hall of Fame trainer who knows the distance, pairing nicely behind a pace-controlling favorite who knows every inch of this track.
- Longshot: Iron Honor at 10/1 — Chad Brown\xe2\x80\x99s runner has been freshened for this spot and fits the profile of a mid-pack stalker who benefits when pace shapes up honest. Double digits on a Brown trainee in a Grade 1 warrants a small win ticket and a place on every exotic.
The 2026 Preakness is not a race to bet defensively. With no Derby winner in the field, no Kentucky-prep horse carrying significant form, and a brand-new venue leveling the playing field for out-of-towners, this is a race where digging into local angles and trainer intentions pays off. Taj Mahal is our top play, but the price on Silent Tactic and the freshness of Chip Honcho make this a race worth spreading across multiple exacta combinations. Shop your lines at your favorite book before post time — be sure to check our Sportsbook Reviews for the best available offers heading into race day.