Preakness Stakes 2021

The 2020 Preakness Stakes was rescheduled to Saturday 3 October due to the Covid-19 outbreak and was won by filly Swiss Skydiver. The 2021 Preakness Stakes is expected to take place Saturday 15 May 2021.

Sandwiched between the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes as the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes has developed a reputation as much more of a party atmosphere than its Classic brethren, though it remains one of the most important events for 3-year-old thoroughbreds and ranks as the second-most popular day in American racing in terms of attendance, trailing only the Derby.

The 1 3/16-mile dirt race was first held at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland in 1873, two years before the inaugural Derby, and is named for a racehorse that won a stakes race on the day Pimlico opened less than three years prior. It wasn’t until 1932 that the race was permanently established as the second leg of the Triple Crown; in prior years, it had routinely been run before the Derby and on two occasions was contested on the same day. The Preakness, otherwise known as the ‘Run for the Black-Eyed Susans,’ is currently held two weeks after the Derby, which takes place on the first Saturday in May, and three weeks before the Belmont Stakes.

It hasn’t always been a smooth ride for the Preakness at Pimlico, the race was shifted to Morris Park Racecourse and then Gravesend Race Track in New York at the turn of the 20th century, and it is still under threat of moving to a different venue today. For now, at least, the Preakness remains in Baltimore and continues to be one of the most vibrant, prestigious days the sport has to offer.