How Laurel Park Could Change the 2026 Preakness Stakes

The Preakness Stakes happens Saturday, May 16, at Laurel Park. Difficult as it is to believe, the race has never been run at Laurel Park before. It’s not the first time that the race we now know as the second jewel of the Triple Crown was contested away from Pimlico Race Course: it was run at Morris Park in the Bronx in 1890, and then Gravesend Racetrack in Brooklyn from 1894 through 1908 before returning to its Baltimore home. But, despite Laurel being less than a 30-mile drive from Pimlico, this is the first time in history that the race will be run there.

The first Preakness at Laurel Park is also expected to be the final one. It’s a temporary relocation while Pimlico undergoes an extensive renovation. That project is expected to be far enough along that the Preakness can return there in 2027, and then the fully rebuilt Pimlico will be on display by the time of the run for the black-eyed susans in 2028. Once the Pimlico reconstruction is finished, it will become the hub for Thoroughbred racing in Maryland.

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Laurel Park Differences to Pimlico

Crowd Size at Laurel Park

One of the major differences between Pimlico and Laurel is that fewer people will be allowed to attend this year’s race.

1/ST Racing, which operates the Preakness, announced in February that attendance at the Preakness in 2026 would be capped at just 4,800 fans. Compare this to the reported attendance of 52,574 people at the 2025 Preakness Stakes at Laurel. Though this is still a far cry from Preakness attendance at its peak of 140,237 in 2017. There also won’t be any infield tickets – the Preakness at Pimlico is famous for its infield revelry, but Laurel is not set up for people to go to the infield, meaning all the horses will see inside the rail will be the tote board and relative calm.

Trainer Steve Asmussen cited the crowd restriction as a reason he rerouted Chip Honcho away from the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs and instead sent him to Laurel for the Preakness. Attendance at the 2026 Kentucky Derby was over 150,000 people, leading to louder and more chaotic environs than an understated 4,800-fan Preakness will.

Laurel Park Track Configuration

Even though horse racing wonks have given Pimlico an overblown reputation for its “tight turns,” the track at Laurel is larger and broader than the one is at Pimlico: Pimlico has a one-mile oval and a track just 70 feet wide, but Laurel’s track is a one-mile, 600-foot oval (slightly less than 1 ⅛ miles) and is 95 feet wide.

The stretch is significantly longer at Laurel, as well. Though 1 3/16-mile races are rarely run at Laurel, when they are, the gate is placed just behind the sixteenth pole, and the second finish line is used. The length of the stretch from the last turn to that finish line is 1,419 feet – significantly longer than the 1,152 feet of the Pimlico stretch.

The broader course and the longer stretch suggest that Laurel, especially when using the second finish line, is going to play more fairly toward horses coming from off the pace than Pimlico, which can be more friendly to forwardly-placed horses. The Preakness looks well set up for a closer, anyway – among the 14-horse field, there are a lot of horses who need to set or press the pace. But, the track configuration will not be an excuse for a horse who tries to close in the Preakness but just doesn’t prove to be good enough.

Laurel Park Track Trends

Although 1 3/16-mile dirt races at Laurel are rare – there have just been six such races over the current Laurel main-track setup, according to a May 2026 article by Ron Flatter at Horse Racing Nation – route race statistics can help shed light on how the track may play, and what running styles tend to be good.

Looking over the last year, there have been 22 1 ⅛-mile races at Laurel, according to the Track Trends tool at HRN. This is the closest distance to the Preakness distance that the track has run recently; there have been no 1 ¼-mile dirt races during that time. Running styles appear to be treated fairly: eight winners were on or within a length of the lead at first call, five were between one and four lengths of the lead at the first call, and nine were four or more lengths off the lead at first call.

It’s a little harder to extrapolate post position trends: there are 14 horses in the Preakness, but the average number of runners in 1 ⅛-mile races at Laurel over the last year has been just 6.19. However, given that limitation, there doesn’t appear to be a serious post-position skew. Eight winners have come out of posts 1 or 2, six from posts 3 or 4, seven from posts 5 or 6, and one came from a post further outside.

Looking more broadly to routes to see if there is any kind of major post position preference? In the 282 route races at Laurel Park within the last year, there has been an average field size of 6.54 horses. 32% of winners broke from posts 1 or 2, 28% from posts 3 or 4, 25% from posts 5 or 6, and 13% from posts 7 and above. Even zooming out to routes in general, it appears that post positions tend to play pretty fairly in dirt routes at Laurel.

In short, the biggest effect on the Preakness moving to Laurel may be that the broader track and longer stretch give horses coming from off the pace a fairer chance than they may get at Pimlico. There isn’t a closer bias – but if the pace sets up for a closer, their connections are unlikely to be able to use speed bias as an excuse.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.