The 9 Horses Competing in the 2025 Preakness Stakes
Sovereignty #18, ridden by jockey Junior Alvarado, pushes ahead of Journalism #8 to win the 151st ... More running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 3, 2025 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by)
Nine horses have traveled to Maryland to celebrate the 150th running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, May 17, at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course. With two-thirds of the Preakness field fresh to the Triple Crown in 2025 not having run in the Kentucky Derby, only Journalism, Sandman and American Promise are familiar names for fans of the 151stKentucky Derby.
The Preakness Stakes is the second race in horse racing's Triple Crown, coming just two weeks after the Kentucky Derby and three weeks before the Belmont Stakes. The race is contested on the dirt track of Pimlico.
The 7:01 p.m. Eastern post time for the Preakness could have featured up to 14 3-year-olds, but this year's field is set at nine qualified horses. Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty, though, isn't one of those thoroughbreds, with trainer Bill Mott skipping the Baltimore race in favor of additional rest time ahead of the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in New York on June 7.
The starting gate with the pack of eight horses during the 149th running of the Preakness Stakes at ... More Pimlico Race Course on May 18, 2024, in Baltimore. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
With the milestone year for the Preakness, it also marks the last race before Pimlico undergoes a major rebuild that will push at least the 2026 running of the Preakness to another track. But with all eyes on the 2025 running, let's explore the nine horses in the field in order of starting position.
Trainer: Bob Baffert
Jockey: Flavien Prat
Sire: Not This Time
Odds: 6-1
Goal Oriented has only run two races. The horse has won them both, sure, but neither were a stakes race. The biggest win in the career of Goal Oriented was an allowance optional claiming race on May 3 at Churchill Downs.
Trainer: Michael W. McCarthy
Jockey: Umberto Rispoli
Sire: Curlin
Odds: 8-5
The favorite going into the Kentucky Derby, Journalism finished second, getting passed by Sovereignty on the sloppy track in Louisville. Journalism is again positioned as the favorite in a Triple Crown contest.
Trainer: D. Waye Lukas
Jockey: Nik Juarez
Sire: Justify
Odds: 15-1
The son of Triple Crown winner Justify was just 16th in the Kentucky Derby, but the crowded field may have hampered the horse's chances. Jockey Nik Juarez is a native of nearby Westminster, Maryland.
Trainer: Jamie A. Osborne
Jockey: Saffie Osborne
Sire: Honor A.P.
Odds: 12-1
Bred in the United Kingdom, but with his last five starts in Dubai, Heart of Honor has plenty of racing history already in his career. Trainer Jamie Osborne has his daughter, Saffie Osborne, as the jockey for the Preakness.
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY - MAY 03: Burnham Square and Journalism head to the first turn during the 151st ... More running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 03, 2025 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by)
Trainer: Michael E. Gorham
Jockey: Raul Mena
Sire: Improbable
Odds: 20-1
Having won four of his last five races, Pay Billy isn't just a clever name in that the horse got into the field thanks to a $60,000 purchase earning him an automatic bid. While trainer Michael Gorham has won more than 1,400 races since starting his career in 1985, he's never had a horse run the Preakness.
Trainer: Todd A. Pletcher
Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.
Sire: Maclean's Music
Odds: 9-2
While qualified for the Kentucky Derby, River Thames was held out to give the horse more time to prepare for the Preakness. The horse also has the speed to keep up with Derby winner Sovereignty, getting edged by the winner in a March 1 race. Trainer Todd Pletcher, 0-10 at the Preakness, is looking for his first middle jewel of the Triple Crown.
Trainer: Mark E. Casse
Jockey: John Velazquez
Sire: Tapit
Odds: 4-1
The Arkansas Derby winner, who was bought for $1.2 million, placed seventh at the Kentucky Derby earlier in May. Now one of the favorites for the Preakness, the ownership group is hoping to play 'Enter Sandman,' the Metallica song the horse is named after, all night after the Preakness.
Trainer: Steven M. Asmussen
Jockey: Jose Ortiz
Sire: American Pharoah
Odds: 5-1
Son of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, Clever Again has only raced three times. Still, the last two starts were impressive victories.
Trainer: Brendan P. Walsh
Jockey: Luis Saez
Sire: Nyquist
Odds: 20-1
Gosger's sire, Nyquist, was third in the 2016 Preakness, but this young racer will be making just his fourth start when he goes into the starting gate last at the Preakness.
NBC has the rights to the Preakness and plans to air coverage during the day on Saturday, first on CNBC. Coverage switches to NBC and the company's Peacock streaming service at 4 p.m. Eastern, roughly three hours before the race.
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But it certainly looks like a mile and a quarter was well in his wheelhouse in the Derby and (we) anticipate that it shouldn't be any issue at Saratoga as well.' Sovereignty looking to win both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes History is on the line for Sovereignty on Saturday at Saratoga. Sovereignty is aiming to become the first Kentucky Derby winner to also win the Belmont Stakes since Justify's Triple Crown campaign in 2018. Because Sovereignty didn't compete in the Preakness Stakes, there's also another piece of horse racing history available to him. He's looking to become the first horse to win the Derby and the Belmont, but not the Preakness, since Thunder Gulch in 1995. Only 11 horses in history have managed to win both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, but not the Preakness Stakes, in the same year. They are Zev (1923), Twenty Grand (1931), Johnstown (1939), Shut Out (1942), Middleground (1950), Needles (1956), Chateaugay (1963), Riva Ridge (1972), Bold Forbes (1976), Swale (1984) and Thunder Gulch (1995). Of course, one of the reasons Sovereignty is in this position is because of the decision to not race in the Preakness Stakes. Since Justify won the Triple Crown in 2018, four of the seven horses that won the Kentucky Derby have skipped the Preakness. That list includes Country House (who won the 2019 Derby following a postrace disqualification), Mandaloun (the 2021 Derby winner after first-place Medina Spirit failed a postrace drug test), Rich Strike (2022) and Sovereignty. Mott was also Country House's trainer. On Tuesday, the Herald-Leader asked Banahan what his thoughts were on the Triple Crown scheduling debate that was reignited by the choice to not run Sovereignty in the Preakness. 'I think that'll be up to the racetracks to really come to a decision on what they think is going to be the best for those three races in the Triple Crown, and going forward, if and how they need to evolve,' Banahan said. 'There have been probably plenty of debates about it, but we were pretty confident that it was the right thing to do for our horse and with the spacing of his races so far, he's responded very well with that.' After running second in the Florida Derby on March 29, Sovereignty had a five-week break before running in and winning the Kentucky Derby. That's the same gap Sovereignty will have between the Derby and Saturday's Belmont. 'We looked at the opportunities that were going to present themselves for him after the Derby and we felt that the best thing for him, and to have a career through the whole season and maybe into next year as well, was spacing his races a little bit,' Banahan added. 'Bill Mott, who's trained horses for us for a long time, is very judicious about where he wants to place his horses and we put a lot of faith in the recommendations that he would give us as well.'
