151st Preakness Stakes to Move to Laurel Park for the First Time

The 151st Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the American Triple Crown, will be held at Laurel Park on May 16, 2026. The event is moving from its traditional venue due to a major redevelopment project at Pimlico Race Course, which will remain closed for construction.

Laurel Park, located at 198 Laurel Race Track Road in Laurel, Maryland, will serve as the temporary home for the race. Organizers have confirmed that the Preakness Stakes is scheduled to return to Pimlico in 2027.

The racing schedule for the weekend includes the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, which will take place on May 15, 2026, the day before the main event.

Historical Context of the Relocation

While the move to Laurel Park is a significant departure from current tradition, it marks the 17th time the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown has been held away from the city of Baltimore and Pimlico Race Course.

This represents the first time since 1908 that the race has been hosted at a venue other than Pimlico. The most recent period of relocation occurred when 15 consecutive Preakness races were held at the Gravesend Race Track in Brooklyn, ending in 1908. At that time, Laurel Park was still three years away from opening.

Historical records also identify an edition of the race held in 1890 at Morris Park in the Bronx. Together, these 16 races held in New York are known as the lost Preaknesses.

The existence of these New York races remained largely unknown for decades. According to Joseph Challmes, an author and reporter for the Sun newspaper, the history was not unearthed until the late 1940s by David F. Woods, who served as Pimlico’s director of publicity.

Woods discovered the records after searching through racing volumes kept in the cupola of Pimlico’s old Victorian clubhouse and cross-referencing them with newspaper accounts from the New York area. Challmes noted in his 1975 book, The Preakness: A History, that the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 had destroyed many of the Maryland Jockey Club’s early records, which contributed to the obscurity of the race’s New York residency.

The 1890 Morris Park race was later uncovered in the mid-1960s by Joe Hickey, the successor to Woods and was subsequently incorporated into the official lore of the event.

The broader Triple Crown series, which aligns the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes, was popularized by Charles Hatton, a columnist for the Daily Racing Form and a member of the National Museum of Racing’s Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor.

Ticketing and Attendance

Tickets for the 151st Preakness Stakes are available exclusively through Preakness.com, powered by Ticketmaster. Organizers have specified that tickets cannot be purchased in person and are available only through online sales.

Limited General Admission tickets will be made available for purchase. The official ticketing platform has cautioned purchasers that secondary marketplaces are not affiliated with the event and that buyers assume all risks when using unauthorized sellers.