Preakness Meet at Pimlico Opens Thursday for 11-Day Stand
149th Preakness Stakes (G1) Set for Saturday, May 18
100th Black-Eyed Susan (G2), Pimlico Special (G3) Friday, May 17
$100,000 Trainer Bonus Returns for Preakness Weekend Stakes

LAUREL, MD – Live racing returns to historic Pimlico Race Course Thursday for the opening of its 11-day Preakness Meet, highlighted by the 149th running of the $2 million Preakness Stakes (G1), Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown, Saturday, May 18.

The 1 3/16-mile Preakness for 3-year-olds is the centerpiece of a blockbuster program featuring nine stakes, five graded, worth $3.3 million in purses that includes the 123rd edition of the $500,000 Dinner Party (G3) for 3-year-olds and up scheduled for 1 1/8 miles on the turf, Pimlico’s oldest stakes race and the eighth-oldest in the country, debuting in 1870.

Other graded-stakes on the Preakness undercard are the $200,000 Chick Lang (G3) for 3-year-olds sprinting six furlongs, $100,000 Gallorette (G3) for fillies and mares 3 and older going 1 1/16 miles on the grass, and $100,000 Maryland Sprint (G3) at six furlongs for 3-year-olds and up.

The winner of the Gallorette will receive automatic entry and a travel incentive to the Prix Jean Romanet (G1) to be run Aug. 18 at Deauville. Winner of the $100,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint for 3-year-olds and up, also on the Preakness undercard, will receive automatic entry and a travel incentive to the My Pension Export July Cup (G1) July 13 at Newmarket.

Preakness Day post time will be 10:30 a.m.

The 100th running of the $300,000 George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan (G2) for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/8 miles is the focal point of a Preakness Eve program Friday, May 17 that offers six stakes, three graded, worth $1 million in purses. Among the supporting stakes are the historic $250,000 Pimlico Special (G3) for 3-year-olds and up at 1 3/16 miles and $150,000 Miss Preakness (G3) for 3-year-old fillies sprinting six furlongs.

Post time on Black-Eyed Susan Day will be 11:30 a.m.

For the eighth straight year, the Maryland Jockey Club is offering bonus money totaling $100,000 to trainers who run a minimum of five horses in the 15 stakes races during Preakness weekend. The trainer with the most points will receive $50,000, second is worth $25,000, third $12,000, fourth $7,000, fifth $4,000 and sixth $2,000.

Points are accumulated for finishing first (10 points), second (seven), third (five), fourth (three) and having a starter (one) in the Skipat, Miss Preakness, Allaire du Pont, Black-Eyed Susan, Pimlico Special, Hilltop, Jim McKay Turf Sprint, Maryland Sprint, Chick Lang, Preakness, Gallorette, James W. Murphy, Dinner Party, The Very One and Sir Barton.

Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen has taken the top bonus four times (2017, 2018, 2021, 2022) since its inception. Other top winners have been Brad Cox (2019), Mike Maker (2020) and Graham Motion (2023).

There will also be bonus money totaling $50,000 for trainers with the most points in non-stakes races during Preakness weekend. The points are accumulated in similar fashion with $25,000 going to the leader, $10,000 to second, $7,000 to third, $4,000 to fourth, $2,500 to fifth and $1,000 to sixth. Trainers must start a minimum of three horses to be eligible.

Racing will be conducted at Pimlico Thursdays through Sundays with no live racing Sunday, May 19 or Thursday, May 23 and a special Memorial Day holiday program Monday, May 27 to close the meet.­

Post time, with the exception of Preakness weekend, will be 12:25 p.m.

Thursday’s eight-race Opening Day card kicks off with a 5 ½-furlong claiming sprint for fillies and mares 3 and up which have not won a race since Nov. 9 or have not won four races. The even-money program favorite is Proper Attire, an 11-time career winner from 34 starts, two of those victories coming at Pimlico.

Race 6 is a maiden special weight for 3-year-olds sprinting six furlongs where Blue Kingdom seeks to break through after placing in each of his three starts including back-to-back runner-up finishes, all at Laurel Park. Also among the field are Hub, a $300,000 son of Mitole that was favored in its April 27 debut but lost the rider after stumbling out of the gate; Grand Opening, third in a New York-bred stakes April 14 at Aqueduct in his only start; and Phipps Stable’s Street Swagger, an unraced homebred son of Street Sense trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey.

The feature comes in Race 7, a 1 1/16-mile allowance for Maryland-bred/sired 3-year-olds and up. Running River and Jardani, the favored entry of nine combined wins trained and co-owned by Jamie Ness; Energy Efficient, exiting a 4 ½-length victory first off the claim for trainer Richard Sillaman; and Mosler Time, a front-running winner going one mile last out March 24, are among the entries.

Kieron Magee, based year-round at Pimlico, captured the recently concluded Laurel spring meet for a second straight year with 11 wins, his 11th meet title in Maryland. He has four horses entered in two races Thursday, including Captain Cardo in Race 3, with five-pound apprentice J.G. Torrealba named to ride. Torrealba, 22, is coming off his first career meet title with 21 wins at Laurel spring and has mounts in four other races on opening day.