What Laurel Park Means for Preakness Betting: Track Bias, Pace Dynamics and What to Watch
The 2026 Preakness Stakes is unlike any that has come before it. For the first time in the race’s history, the Run for the Black-Eyed Susans will not be run at Pimlico Race Course. Pimlico is undergoing a $400 million demolition and reconstruction project, and the Maryland Jockey Club has temporarily relocated the race 30 miles south to Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland. The Preakness is expected to return to a rebuilt Pimlico in 2027.
That one-year move is not just a change of scenery. Laurel Park is a genuinely different racetrack — bigger, wider, and configured in a way that should alter pace dynamics, bias tendencies, and the profile of horse that thrives on the stretch run. If you’re wagering on the Preakness at MyWinners, understanding what Laurel Park is — and how it compares to Pimlico — is one of the most useful edges you can bring to your handicapping this year.
The Run for the Black-Eyed Susans: A Quick Explainer
The Preakness is often called the Run for the Black-Eyed Susans in the same way the Kentucky Derby is called the Run for the Roses. The winning horse is draped in a blanket of the Maryland state flower — or rather, a very convincing substitute for it.
Real Black-Eyed Susans bloom in late June and July, weeks after the Preakness is run. So since the late 1990s, Giant Foods in Baltimore has built the official winner’s blanket using Viking poms, a Chrysanthemum variety with yellow petals and a naturally dark brown centre that closely resembles the state flower. Around 5,000 blooms go into each 10-foot blanket, individually wired by a team of florists the Friday before race day.
The tradition itself began in 1939, when Challedon won and the Maryland Jockey Club decided the race needed its own identity separate from the Derby’s roses. Black-Eyed Susans were officially named the flower of the Preakness in 1940, and the cascade of yellow and dark brown has appeared in the winner’s circle ever since.
One thing worth noting for the card this week: do not confuse the Preakness with the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, the Grade II filly race run the Friday before on the same card. That’s a separate race for three-year-old fillies, with its own flower blanket. Different race, different day, different field.
Laurel Park vs Pimlico: The Numbers That Matter
| Stat | Pimlico Race Course | Laurel Park (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Track circumference | 1 mile | 1⅛ miles |
| Track width | 70 feet | 95 feet |
| Turn configuration | Tighter, shorter turns | Wider, more sweeping turns |
| Final turn length | 1,327 feet | Longer (1⅛-mile oval) |
| Homestretch (Preakness distance) | 1,152 feet | ~1,014 feet (first wire used) |
| Race surface | Dirt | Dirt |
| Running style favoured | Tactical speed | Tactical speed + sustained closers |
| Location | Baltimore, MD | Laurel, MD (~30 miles south) |
| Preakness history | Host since 1909 (150th running in 2025) | First time host (2026 only) |
The most fundamental difference between the two tracks is size. Pimlico’s main oval is exactly one mile in circumference. Laurel Park’s is 1⅛ miles around. That extra eighth of a mile means wider, more sweeping turns — a configuration that changes how a 1³⁄₁₆-mile race unfolds from the moment the gates open.
Pimlico is famously narrow at 70 feet wide, with a final turn of 1,327 feet leading into a homestretch of 1,152 feet. Laurel is 95 feet wide — 25 feet broader — giving horses more room to manoeuvre out of the turns. The stretch at Laurel for the Preakness comes in at around 1,014 feet, slightly shorter than Pimlico’s, after accounting for the positioning of the gate just before the sixteenth pole and Laurel’s two-wire system.
In plain terms: Laurel is a bigger, more galloping track. Pimlico is tighter, more compact, and historically more associated with tactical speed. As one Maryland handicapper put it, the analogy is not unlike Easy Goer versus Sunday Silence at Belmont — a wider, longer track favours a different kind of horse than a tight oval does.
Track Bias: What Laurel Park Tends to Reward
Laurel Park’s general reputation among Maryland handicappers is that it plays fair, without the pronounced rail biases that some tracks develop. That said, the track has shown a tendency to favour horses with early speed in certain conditions. A telling data point from 2026 Preakness prep season: the Federico Tesio Stakes, run over 1⅛ miles at Laurel on April 18, was won wire-to-wire by Taj Mahal, with jockey Sheldon Russell setting a pace that was never challenged.
The broader consensus is that Laurel’s more sweeping turns can keep mid-pack runners competitive longer than Pimlico’s tighter configuration, offering a slightly wider window for horses with a sustained finish. The key word is slightly — at 9.5 furlongs, early pace and position still matter enormously.
Pace Dynamics at 9½ Furlongs
The Preakness distance rewards horses that can combine early speed with a genuine finishing effort. Pure speedballs and pure closers both tend to struggle at 1³⁄₁₆ miles — it is the horses in between, with the tactical intelligence to settle and accelerate, that tend to get the job done.
At Laurel specifically, the gate is positioned just before the sixteenth pole for the one-turn configuration, giving horses a long initial run before the first turn. How they break and settle in those opening seconds will matter. With no Derby winner in the field — Golden Tempo bypassed the Preakness to target the Belmont — the pace scenario is genuinely open. Fields without a dominant favourite tend to attract fresh horses who skipped Churchill Downs entirely, and some of those will arrive with energy to burn. A genuinely fast early pace could compromise the speed horses and open the door for a closer with the right profile for Laurel’s wider turns.
Contender Profiles to Watch
Horses with Laurel experience hold the most concrete advantage available this year. Taj Mahal, trained by Brittany Russell, is unbeaten in three starts — all at Laurel — and won the Federico Tesio to earn automatic Preakness entry. The Hell We Did has also worked over the Laurel main track ahead of the race. Surface familiarity matters when the rest of the field is essentially navigating new surroundings.
Among horses arriving from outside Maryland, Crude Velocity is the morning line favourite after a dominant Pat Day Mile win on Derby Day. Trained by Bob Baffert and lightly raced, he arrives fresh rather than off the Derby grind — a physical and mental edge worth factoring in when the pace scenario is unclear and Laurel’s surface is new to most of the field.
What to Watch on Race Day
The undercard at Laurel on Preakness Day is your most important research tool. Watch the earlier dirt races closely for evidence of a lane or style bias. If front-runners are winning comfortably on the inside, that tells you something about how the surface is playing. If closers are finishing strongly on the outside, adjust accordingly. This is always useful handicapping practice — at an unfamiliar venue in a historic one-year move, it becomes essential.
Post positions are confirmed at the draw on Monday, May 11, at 5 p.m. ET, with the field capped at 14 starters. For a one-turn race at this distance, rail draws have historically carried a minor statistical edge. Laurel’s wider configuration softens the penalty for outside posts compared to tighter tracks, but a clean trip from a good gate still beats a wide journey.
Weather on Preakness Day is forecast to be favourable — clear skies, a high around 76 degrees, and a slim 13 percent chance of rain. A dry, fast Laurel surface should produce consistent conditions across the card.
A Once-in-a-Generation Betting Angle
The 2026 Preakness offers a genuinely rare handicapping opportunity. Decades of accumulated Pimlico data — pace trends, rail bias patterns, turn configuration tendencies — is largely irrelevant this year. That levels the playing field between casual and experienced Preakness bettors to a meaningful degree. The edges available are specific and narrow: Laurel form, Laurel workout times, trainer-jockey combinations that know the track, and close attention to what the undercard tells you on the day.
MyWinners gives you full access to Preakness Stakes wagering, including win, place, show, exactas, trifectas, superfectas, and all available exotics on the full card. Post time on Saturday, May 16 is 6:50 p.m. ET. Fund your account, study the field once post positions are confirmed, and use what Laurel Park is showing you.
Bet online at app.mywinners.com, on the MyWinners: Racing & Sports app on iOS or Android, or go here to find your nearest MyWinners or Winners venue in CT.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Preakness winner is draped in a blanket of Black-Eyed Susans, the official state flower of Maryland, in the same way the Kentucky Derby winner wears red roses. The tradition began in 1939 and the flower was officially designated the Preakness's own in 1940. Since real Black-Eyed Susans bloom too late for the May race, the blanket is made from Viking poms — a similar-looking flower that can be commercially grown.
Pimlico Race Course is undergoing a $400 million demolition and reconstruction project. The Maryland Jockey Club temporarily relocated the 2026 running to Laurel Park, about 30 miles south of Baltimore. The race is expected to return to a rebuilt Pimlico for the 152nd running in 2027.
Laurel's oval is 1⅛ miles in circumference versus Pimlico's one-mile track, and it is 95 feet wide compared to Pimlico's 70 feet. The wider, more sweeping turns alter pace dynamics and can keep mid-pack runners competitive for longer. Historic Pimlico trends are largely irrelevant in 2026, which makes Laurel-specific form and undercard observation more valuable than usual.
No. The Black-Eyed Susan Stakes is a separate Grade II race for three-year-old fillies, run the Friday before the Preakness on the same Preakness week card. It has its own flower blanket but is a different race, different distance, and different day from the Preakness Stakes.
The post position draw for the 2026 Preakness Stakes is scheduled for Monday, May 11, at 5 p.m. ET. The field at Laurel Park is capped at 14 starters.
