The 151st edition of The Preakness, the “middle jewel” of the Triple Crown, is on tap for Saturday under ideal conditions at Laurel Park in Maryland.
Keep checking back here for complete results and recaps from the bulk of the Laurel Park program leading up to the run for the Black-Eyed Susans (7:01 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock).
Race 11: Gallorette Stakes
Winning Horse: Warming
Winning Trainer: Graham Motion
Winning Jockey: John Velazquez
Payout: $19.80
Recap: Pair a wily veteran in Velazquez with the only graded stakes winner in the field, and chances are you are going to have a winner. Velazquez found the seam down the stretch to beat out the rest of the eight-horse field in the 1-1/16 turf race. Warming snapped a three-race losing streak heading into the race (albeit those races were not on turf).
Race 10: Dinner Party Stakes
Winning Horse: Fort Washington
Winning Trainer: Claude “Shug” McGaughey III
Winning Jockey: Junior Alvarado
Payout: $7.80
Recap: It looked like Cruise The Nile was going to pull away once he went around the final turn, but Alvarado took advantage of what might have been a tactical error from Jorge Ruiz to push the race favorite too soon. Fort Washington becomes the first back-to-back Dinner Party winner in 100 years.
Race 9: James W. Murphy Stakes
Winning Horse: Turf Star
Winning Trainer: Graham Motion
Winning Jockey: Jorge Ruiz
Payout: $10.40
Recap: Turf Star proved again that it’s all about how you finish in turf races. Flavien Prat, riding My Favorite Bird, looked like he was going to hold off Ruiz, but the latter helped Turf Star find another gear in the final 1/16th of the mile-long turf race. It was Turf Star's second career victory in his first race on the Laurel turf.
Race 8: Maryland Sprint Stakes
Winning Horse: Bring The Smoke
Winning Trainer: D. Whitworth Beckman
Winning Jockey: Tyler Gaffalione
Payout: $16.60
Recap: In a six-furlong race where six out of the seven horses had a legitimate shot to win it with their established speed, it was unsurprisingly anyone’s race by the middle of the stretch, but Gaffalione worked through traffic and angled out to win it. Beckman told NBC post-race that he was hoping they “got the mojo” with this one, as he and Gaffalione pair up again with a Preakness favorite, Ocelli.
Race 7: Chick Lang Stakes
Winning Horse: Obliteration
Winning Trainer: Steve Asmussen
Winning Jockey: Jose L. Ortiz
Payout: $3.40
Recap: Obliteration, the odds-favorite at 3/5, rode on the inside out of the gate for most of the race, but Ortiz made his move down the stretch to catch Shane’s Wonder and win by three lengths over the blink-of-an-eye six furlongs. Obliteration is now 3-for-3 at the distance. Ortiz will be riding Chip Honcho in The Preakness later in the day.
Race 6: Sir Barton Stakes
Winning Horse: Big Cuddle
Winning Trainer: Gary Capuano
Winning Jockey: Yedsit Hazlewood
Payout: $12.80
Recap: The 18-year-old jockey edged odds-favorite Final Story down the stretch to win by just about a length. Heading into the race, two of the horse’s three career starts came at Laurel Park. Trainer Cherie DeVaux and jockey Jose Ortiz—who made history together with Golden Tempo at the Kentucky Derby—were set to pair up again in this race with favorite Reagan’s Honor, but the horse was scratched Friday due to a fever.
Race 5
Winning Horse: I Love Giraffes
Winning Trainer: Chad Summers
Winning Jockey: Paco Lopez
Payout: $16.20
Race 4
Winning Horse: Striker Has Dial
Winning Trainer: Horacio De Paz
Winning Jockey: Ricardo Santana Jr.
Payout: $16.40
Race 3
Winning Horse: Limo
Winning Trainer: Michael Stidham
Winning Jockey: Yedsit Hazlewood
Payout: $11.40
Race 2
Winning Horse: Wickeddivine
Winning Trainer: Kenneth M. Cox
Winning Jockey: Jeiron Barbosa
Payout: $5.20
Race 1
Winning Horse: Boujee Bubblez
Winning Trainer: Hugh I. McMahon
Winning Jockey: Yedsit Hazlewood
Payout: $10.00