We are here. Race day for the 151st Preakness Stakes, and for the first time in 118 years, this race is not being run at Old Hilltop. Laurel Park is the host while Pimlico undergoes its $400 million rebuild, and that one detail alone changes how you handicap this race from the ground up. Fourteen horses. No Triple Crown pressure. Golden Tempo skipped it. And the undercard at Laurel has already swallowed three heavy chalk horses whole. Today is exactly the kind of race sharp money lives for.
Coverage kicks off at 1 p.m. ET on NBC Sports and Peacock. Post time is 6:50 p.m. ET. If you are not already logged into BUSR with your tickets built, now is the time. Check Equibase for the official entries, weights, and scratches as they are confirmed. Then come back here, because we are going to break this down the right way.
You can track all the Triple Crown odds in one place at BUSR, and if you want to dig into head-to-head props, the Preakness matchups board has been active all morning.
| PP | Horse | Morning Line | Running Style | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | Iron Honor | ML Fav (faded) | Presser | 7th in Wood Memorial, sharp money bailing |
| 12 | Incredibolt | 5-1 | Stalker/Closer | Unlucky trip in Derby, bounce-back angle is real |
| 1 | Taj Mahal | 5-1 | Presser | 3-for-3 at Laurel Park, home track edge is legitimate |
| 10 | Napoleon Solo | 8-1 | Closer | Primary value play, exotics must-use |
| 7 | The Hell We Did | 15-1 | Deep Closer | Longshot for trifecta/superfecta singling out |
| -- | Golden Tempo | N/A | N/A | Kentucky Derby winner – skipped Preakness |
Post positions confirmed via BUSR. Odds reflect early Saturday betting pools.
Let's start with what we know about the setup. Golden Tempo winning the Kentucky Derby and then skipping Preakness is not a new story in this sport, but it does fundamentally reshape the pace picture here. Without a confirmed pace-setter of his caliber in the field, this race is genuinely up for grabs from a pace scenario standpoint. Iron Honor figures to be involved early as a presser type, and Taj Mahal has shown the ability to sit just off the lead at Laurel. That combination could mean a contested pace in the first half-mile, which, historically, at this distance of a mile and three-sixteenths, sets up for the closer who gets the right trip.
Incredibolt is the horse you watch in that context. The Derby trip looked like a horse who got caught in traffic at the wrong moment, and a stalker who gets to sit two or three lengths off a contested pace at Laurel and pounce in the stretch is a profile that has cashed at this distance for decades. At 5-1, he is not a bomb, but he is not chalk either. That is a workable number for a horse with a legitimate excuse last time out.
Taj Mahal's home-track edge is worth repeating. Three wins, three races, all at Laurel Park. The trainer and jockey know this strip. Brittany and Sheldon Russell, as a husband-wife trainer-jockey combo, give them a communication edge in terms of race planning that outside connections simply do not have. Sheldon is going to know exactly where to have Taj Mahal at the top of the stretch, and on a day when the undercard has already humbled three chalk horses, Taj Mahal might be the one piece of solid ground in this field.
For the straight-win bettor, Incredibolt at 5-1 and Taj Mahal at 5-1 are both defensible. But this is a 14-horse field on a track that is chewing up favorites today, and the real money is in the exotics. Here is how to build your tickets.
Exacta. Box Incredibolt and Taj Mahal for your base ticket. Then use a wheel: Taj Mahal on top of Incredibolt, Napoleon Solo, and The Hell We Did. The cost of a $2 wheel with three horses underneath is $6. Do both directions, and you are in for $12 on the exacta, which is reasonable exposure for a race this open.
Trifecta. Key Incredibolt and Taj Mahal on top, Napoleon Solo and The Hell We Did in second and third. A $1 trifecta box of four horses runs $24. If you want to trim costs, eliminate Iron Honor from your tickets entirely, given the Wood Memorial form. The public will bet on him because he was the morning-line favorite. That is an overlay territory on the others if he gets pounded down and loses.
Superfecta. Spread wide here. Use all five horses mentioned in any order in a $0.10 superfecta box. Five horses in a $0.10 box cost $12. In a wide-open 14-horse field on a day where the undercard is producing upset after upset, the $0.10 superfecta is your lottery ticket with a handicapper's structure behind it.
If you are new to building exotic tickets online, the how to place a bet guide at BUSR walks you through exactly how to structure wheels and boxes on the platform. And once this race is done, start thinking about the Belmont Stakes betting guide because the trail does not stop here.
Also worth noting for those building Pick 4 tickets that wrap around the Preakness: check the Churchill Downs Stakes card for live races running concurrently today.
Let's build your winning ticket for today:
Napoleon Solo at 8-1 is the play we want to highlight for anyone looking for a single horse to anchor exotic tickets. He is a closer in a race where the pace scenario could get honest in a hurry; he has not been as exposed as the favorites, and 8-1 on a horse with legitimate credentials in a race this thin deserves attention. The Hell We Did at 15-1 is the deeper shot, the kind of horse you use in the third and fourth spots of trifectas and superfectas rather than keying on top, but do not leave him off the ticket entirely if you are playing for a big score.
Iron Honor is the horse to fade. A troubled seventh in the Wood Memorial does not scream Preakness winner, and the sharp money has been moving away from him all morning. The public will probably still bet him into a shorter number than he deserves. Let them.
"Undercard update: Three heavy favorites (3-5 or shorter) have already lost at Laurel Park today. Could be a bad sign for whoever goes off the chalk in the Preakness. #Preakness151 #Laurel"
"No Triple Crown on the line with Golden Tempo skipping, this is truly anyone's race. Taj Mahal has the track advantage being 3-for-3 at Laurel, but Incredibolt looked unlucky in the Derby and could bounce back big. Who are you backing?"
The broader betting community on X and Reddit is largely aligned: the undercard pattern at Laurel today has sharp money nervous about backing any short-priced horse in the main event, and the conversation keeps coming back to Taj Mahal's track record at this specific venue as the one concrete edge in an otherwise wide-open race.
Post time for the 151st Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park is 6:50 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 16, 2026. Race day coverage begins at 1 p.m. ET on NBC Sports and streams live on Peacock. The race is being held at Laurel Park for the first time in 118 years while Pimlico undergoes its $400 million renovation.
Incredibolt and Taj Mahal have emerged as co-favorites at 5-1 based on early Saturday betting pools. Iron Honor, the original morning-line favorite, has been faded by sharp money all day following his troubled seventh-place finish in the Wood Memorial. Three chalk horses already lost on the Laurel undercard today, which gives experienced bettors extra reason to look at overlays in the main event rather than backing the shortest prices on the board.
You can bet the 2026 Preakness Stakes at BUSR, including win, place, show, exactas, trifectas, superfectas, and multi-race exotics like the Pick 4. If you are new to building exotic tickets, the how to place a bet guide at BUSR walks you through the process. New players can get Up to $1,500 Today at BUSR when they sign up and make their first deposit.
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.
