Golden Tempo, the 151st Kentucky Derby winner, will not race in the 151st Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park. Trainer Cherie DeVaux is pointing the colt to the Belmont Stakes on June 6 at Saratoga Race Course, closing the door on a 2026 Triple Crown bid after a s
The 151st Preakness Stakes will run Saturday without Golden Tempo, the only horse in contention to chase Triple Crown history. Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland, is set to host the second leg of the series with a post time of approximately 6:50 p.m. ET, but the Kentucky Derby winner will be elsewhere.
Golden Tempo, the longshot winner of this year’s Kentucky Derby, will not compete at Laurel Park. Trainer Cherie DeVaux instead will direct the colt toward the Belmont Stakes on June 6 at Saratoga Race Course. DeVaux framed the decision as an opening to the next chapter for a “very special horse.”
“We are incredibly excited for what lies ahead with this very special horse,” Ms. DeVaux said in announcing the decision.
That choice shuts down any possibility of a Triple Crown run in 2026.. It also continues a pattern that has been hard to miss in recent months: Golden Tempo is the second straight Kentucky Derby winner to skip the Preakness.. Last year, Sovereignty skipped the race before winning the Belmont Stakes under trainer Bill Mott.. The last Triple Crown winner was Justify in 2018.
The reasoning DeVaux gave centered on Golden Tempo’s long-term health and the difficult two-week turnaround between the Derby and Preakness. She is also from Saratoga Springs, New York, where the Belmont is being held for the third and final time while Belmont Park undergoes renovations.
The scheduling shift echoes the broader reshaping of the Preakness itself.. The race will be run at a new venue for Saturday’s edition while Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore undergoes a complete reconstruction.. Laurel Park is hosting the Preakness for the first time in the race’s history. and the event is expected to return to Pimlico in 2027.
All but one of the horses that ran at Churchill Downs on May 2 will be absent at Laurel Park on Saturday. The exception is Ocelli, who finished third in the Kentucky Derby at 70-1 odds as a maiden and enters the Preakness at 6-1 from post No. 2.
With Golden Tempo out, the field is set at 14 horses for the $2 million race.. Iron Honor (9-2) leads the morning line as the favorite.. Taj Mahal (5-1) and Chip Honcho (5-1) are co-favorites alongside Iron Honor. with Incredibolt (5-1) and Ocelli (6-1) also among the frontrunners.. Napoleon Solo enters at 8-1.
Taj Mahal carries local appeal as the undefeated winner of the Federico Tesio Stakes at Laurel Park — a race that earned him an automatic bid to the Preakness — trained by the husband-and-wife team of Sheldon and Brittany Russell.. Chip Honcho will break from gate No.. 6, historically the most successful post position at the Preakness with 17 winners since the starting gate was introduced in 1909.. Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Jose Ortiz has picked up the mount on Chip Honcho for Saturday’s race.
The last three Preakness winners have started from gate No. 5 or lower. Last year’s winner, Journalism, broke from gate No. 2.
Two threads are crossing at once: Golden Tempo’s decision to bypass the Preakness ends the 2026 Triple Crown bid. while the event itself is being forced into a temporary setting at Laurel Park because Pimlico Race Course is under complete reconstruction.. With the Derby-to-Preakness path interrupted both by a Derby winner’s choice and a change in venue. this Saturday’s race is taking shape under unusual limits on both fronts.
Saturday’s Preakness at Laurel Park moves forward without the horse that would have made the Triple Crown possible this year, and it begins with a competitive 14-horse field led by Iron Honor as the favorites line up under altered circumstances.
Golden Tempo Preakness Stakes Laurel Park Triple Crown Kentucky Derby Cherie DeVaux Belmont Stakes Saratoga Race Course Iron Honor Ocelli