Preakness stakes triple crown race

Stakes: Grade I For 3-year-old thoroughbreds and fillies; 1 mile and 3/16

Purse: $1,000,000

The Preakness Stakes is the second and shortest leg in thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown race (at 1 3/16 mile), and always attracts Kentucky Derby winners and contenders.

Held every third Saturday of May, Preakness is known as the Race for the Black Eyed Susans. The Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland is home of the Preakness Stakes, which offers $1 million purse up for grabs.

This second jewel of the Triple Crown is sometimes looked at as the lesser of the three races because it lacks the media hoopla of Churchill Downs. But that doesn't diminish the glory that Preakness offers. In fact, the race is often a breather for horsemen on the Triple Crown trail because it doesn't have the same feeding frenzy of the Kentucky Derby, which can be overwhelming to rookie participants.

Preakness Stakes has a rich history, even longer than the Kentucky Derby. It was first run two years before the Derby, in 1873, and was named after the horse who won the 1870 Dinner Party Stakes, Preakness.

During that time Pimlico was one of the most respected tracks in America, far more important than Churchill Downs and 12,000 horse racing fans attended the first running.

The 'Triple Crown' phrase was not coined until the 1930s, and the best of the Derby horses gather at the Preakness Stakes to see if there's a window of opportunity for a Triple Crown prospect, making Preakness a major prize for any horse to win.

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