| Bull by the Horns — 2026 Preakness Stakes Profile | |
|---|---|
| Horse | Bull by the Horns |
| Sire | Essential Quality |
| Owner | Peachtree Stable and Mark Corrado |
| Trainer | Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. |
| Jockey | M. Husbands |
| Post Position | 8 |
| Morning Line Odds | 30-1 |
| Running Style | Deep Closer / Sustained Late Runner |
| Top Speed Figure | 100 (HRN) |
| Race | 151st Preakness Stakes, Laurel Park |
| Distance | 1 3/16 Miles (Dirt) |
| Previous Start | 1st. 2026 Rushaway (LS), Turfway Park |
For the complete field and current Preakness Stakes odds, cross-reference official entries at BUSR, where you can pull full past performances and official scratches as they come in through race day.
Bull by the Horns arrives at the 151st Preakness Stakes as one of the longer shots in the field, but his story is more interesting than the 30-1 suggests on the surface. The Essential Quality colt trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. won the 2026 Rushaway Listed Stakes at Turfway Park in March — his most recent start — posting a 100 speed figure on synthetic. Peachtree Stable and Mark Corrado own a horse who has shown steady development across five starts, improving from 95 in his debut to 100 in his listed stakes win. M. Husbands gets the mount from post 8 at 30-1. The central question for serious bettors is whether his Rushaway form and his Essential Quality stamina pedigree give him a genuine path to hitting the board at Laurel Park.
The honest read on Bull by the Horns is that his figures are competitive within his own trajectory but remain below what the elite horses in this field have produced. His 100 top figure comes on synthetic at Turfway — a surface he will not encounter at Laurel Park. His two dirt starts produced a 99 MSW win at Gulfstream and a 96 in the Fountain of Youth (G2), where he ran seventh, beaten by Commandment at 123. That is the class gap bettors need to weigh honestly before building their Preakness Stakes betting ticket around this horse.
| Date | Track | Race Type | Distance | Surface | Finish | 1st Place (Fig) | 2nd Place | 3rd Place | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3/21/26 | TP | Listed Stakes | 1 1/16M | Synth-Fast | 1st (100) | Bull by the Horns (100) | Steel Imperium (99) | Trendsetter (94) | 1:45.76 |
| 2/28/26 | GP | G2 | 1 1/16M | Dirt-Fast | 7th (96) | Commandment (123) | Chief Wallabee (123) | Solitude Dude (120) | 1:43.33 |
| 1/16/26 | TAM | Allowance | 1M 40Y | Dirt-Fast | 3rd (102) | Khon Han (107) | Day One Starter (103) | Bull by the Horns (102) | 1:40.63 |
| 11/1/25 | GP | Msw | 1M | Dirt-Fast | 1st (99) | Bull by the Horns (99) | Pax Mundi (89) | Thousand Spirits (88) | 1:38.76 |
| 9/26/25 | GP | Msw | 7F | Dirt-Fast | 3rd (95) | Freaky Neeks (102) | Pax Mundi (100) | Bull by the Horns (95) | 1:23.63 |
Post 8 is the most neutral draw in this field — dead center of the gate, giving Husbands a clean view of the pace developing in front of him and no structural disadvantage in either direction. For a deep closer whose entire game plan involves tracking the pace from midfield and making one sustained run in the final quarter mile, post 8 is exactly where you want to be. Bull by the Horns does not need to fight for an early position, does not need to angle wide, and does not face the trip complications of the horses breaking from posts 10 through 14. The post draw is the one thing working cleanly in his favor on race day.
The class gap is where the honest analysis has to land. His Fountain of Youth seventh at Gulfstream — where Commandment won at 123 — shows what happens when Bull by the Horns faces elite three-year-olds on dirt. He ran a 96 in that spot, beaten by 27 points by the winner. His Rushaway win came on synthetic at Turfway against a field that included Trendsetter at 94 in third. The Essential Quality stamina pedigree gives him the distance credentials for 1 3/16 miles, but pedigree alone does not close a 20-point speed figure gap to the top horses in this race.
Bull by the Horns needs the most extreme pace scenario in this field to be a realistic factor in the stretch. As a deep closer, he requires the front-runners to completely exhaust themselves through honest early fractions before he arrives late. This field has genuine pace — Taj Mahal at post 1, Chip Honcho at post 6, Napoleon Solo at post 10, and Corona de Oro at post 11 all project as early speed. If three of those horses press each other through a genuinely hot first half mile, the final quarter mile opens up for every closer in the race. Bull by the Horns would be running into that scenario from post 8 with a clean trip and the Essential Quality stamina to sustain his run.
The problem is competition. In that same pace-collapse scenario, Iron Honor at 9-2, Incredibolt at 5-1, and Talkin at 20-1 are all closing into the same hole — and all three carry significantly higher speed figures than Bull by the Horns. At 100, his top figure is 12 points below Incredibolt's Virginia Derby 111 and 24 points below Iron Honor's debut 124. Even if the pace collapses perfectly, he needs every other closer in the field to underperform for him to reach the board. Check the Belmont Stakes betting guide for Triple Crown planning if you are building a multi-race ticket this spring.
Here is the practical breakdown for how sharp bettors should think about using Bull by the Horns on a ticket at 30-1.
Win Single: Not recommended. His top figure of 100 on synthetic is well below what the elite horses in this field have produced on dirt, and his Fountain of Youth seventh showed the result when he faces Grade I-caliber competition directly.
Exacta: Not a natural exacta candidate. The horses above him in talent — Iron Honor, Incredibolt, Talkin — are all more likely to close into second if the pace collapses. Save your exacta budget for horses with more compelling figures.
Trifecta: A token inclusion in the trifecta, fourth and beyond if you are building very wide wheels. His post-8 draw and deep-closing style means he theoretically arrives late in a chaos scenario, but the talent above him in this field makes him a back-end-only selection.
Superfecta: This is his best spot. A $0.10 superfecta inclusion in the fourth slot costs almost nothing and covers the scenario where the entire front half of the field falls apart, and he closes into the money. Check the full horse betting guide for structuring exotic tickets efficiently.
For multi-leg plays across the Triple Crown, visit the bet on Preakness Stakes page and the Triple Crown bonus page at US Racing.
BULL BY THE HORNS (Essential Quality), the Saffie Joseph, Jr.-trained winner of the Rushaway Stakes last time out, will step up to Grade I company for the first time in the second leg of the Triple Crown.
Bull by the Horns Preakness Stakes
Bull by the Horns was nominated for the Long Branch Stakes, a prep race for the Haskell, but the race did not fill as expected. "The first of two Haskell preps at Monmouth Park didn’t fill. It won’t run in 2026."
Bull by the Horns opened at 30-1 on the morning line for the 151st Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park on May 16, 2026. He drew post position 8 in the 14-horse field. The 30-1 reflects the significant gap between his 100 top speed figure on synthetic and the dirt figures posted by the favorites in this race.
Bull by the Horns is trained by Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. and ridden by M. Husbands from post 8 at Laurel Park. Joseph is a respected trainer who has brought horses to major races from the Florida and synthetic circuit before.
Bull by the Horns is best used as a $0.10 superfecta fourth-slot inclusion only. His post 8 draw and deep-closing style give him a theoretical path to the board in a complete pace-collapse scenario, but the talent above him in the closer division makes him a poor investment in win singles, exactas, or trifecta anchors. Visit the BC free bet page at US Racing for current promotions.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
