2023 Preakness Stakes by the Numbers

Racing
Cloud Computing (inside) defeated Classic Empire by a head in a thrilling 2017 edition of the Preakness Stakes. (Penelope P. Miller/America's Best Racing)

On May 20, Pimlico Race Course will host the second jewel of North American horse racing’s Triple Crown, as a talented group of 3-year-olds including Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve winner Mage will contest the Preakness Stakes.

The historic race is one of the most important in deciding champion 3-year-old male honors at year’s end and the Preakness determines if a Triple Crown will be on the line in the Belmont Stakes three weeks later. Get get ready for this year’s running with some fun stats and facts below.

0 – The number of times the Preakness has been held on a Sunday. The race has been held at least four times on every other day of the week since its inception in 1873. The Preakness has been held on a Saturday every year since 1931; Tuesday ranks second with 14 editions of the Preakness conducted on that day of the week.

1 3/16 miles – The distance of the Preakness since 1925. It’s a sixteenth of a mile shorter than the Kentucky Derby.

1:53 Secretariat’s winning time in the 1973 edition of the Preakness, a stakes record. The race was originally timed in 1:54 2/5, but that error was corrected in 2012, giving “Big Red” the stakes record for all three Triple Crown races.

2 – The number of people who have both ridden and trained a Preakness winner. Louis J. Schaefer won the 1929 edition as a jockey aboard Dr. Freeland and later trained Challedon to victory in 1939. Johnny Longden duplicated the feat by winning the 1943 Preakness on Count Fleet before training 1969 winner Majestic Prince.

Swiss Skydiver (inside) defeats Authentic in 2020. (Eclipse Sportswire)

6 – The number of fillies (females) who have won the Preakness: Flocarline, 1903; Whimsical, 1906; Rhine Maiden, 1915; Nellie Morse, 1924; and then an 85-year gap before eventual Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra won in 2009. Swiss Skydiver became the sixth in 2020 when she outfinished Kentucky Derby winner Authentic to win an unforgettable Preakness.

7 - The number of geldings who won the Preakness Stakes with the most recent being Funny Cide in 2003.  Geldings were not permitted to compete in the Preakness from 1920 through 1934.

8 – The number of times a 3-year-old bred in Maryland has won Maryland’s signature race: Cloverbrook (1877), Dunboyne (1887), Refund (1888), Sly Fox (1898), Challedon (1939), Kauai King (1966), Bee Bee Bee (1972), and Deputed Testamony (1983).

10 – The number of Preakness winners who were sired (fathered) by a Preakness winner, including 2016 winner Exaggerator, by 2007 winner Curlin.

11 – The number of times in its illustrious history that the Preakness Stakes was run prior to the Kentucky Derby, and twice, in 1917 and 1922, both races were on the same day. 

11 ½ lengthsSmarty Jones’ winning margin in the 2004 Preakness, a stakes record.

12 – The number of instances in which the Belmont Stakes has been held before the Preakness, most recently in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic when the Belmont Stakes was held in June with the Kentucky Derby in September and the Preakness in October. Prior to 2020, the standard order of the Derby followed two weeks later by the Preakness followed three weeks later by the Belmont Stakes had been in place since 1969.

15 – The number of Preakness winners whose name began with the letter ‘S’. These include the very first winner, Survivor (1873), Triple Crown winners Sir Barton (1919), Secretariat (1973), and Seattle Slew (1977), and dual classic winner Smarty Jones (2004). Another famous ‘S,’ Sunday Silence, is the most recent Preakness winner to prevail by the slimmest of recorded margins, a nose. He defeated Easy Goer in their classic 1989 rivalry by a nose. Swiss Skydiver in 2020 is the most recent winner whose name began with the letter ‘S’.

17 – The number of times a horse breaking from post position No. 6 has won the Preakness. Rombauer was the last to do so, in 2021.

18 – The race has been decided by a head or less on 18 occasions, the last such occurrence when Cloud Computing defeated Classic Empire by a head in 2017.

22 – The number of Preakness winners named Horse of the Year, racing’s highest year-end honor, the same year. Triple Crown winner Justify (2018) is the most recent such horse.

36 – Total number of horses who won the Preakness after a Kentucky Derby victory. Just 13 of them went on to win the Belmont Stakes and sweep the Triple Crown.

$48.80 – The biggest win payout ever in the race, coming when 23-1 Master Derby won in 1975.

103 – The number of Preakness winners who were bred in Kentucky, including the last eight since California-bred California Chrome won the race in 2014.

148 – This year is the 148th running of the race. As mentioned previously, it was first contested in 1873 but wasn’t run from 1891 through 1893.

$2,050 – Purse of the first Preakness in 1873.

$1.5 million – Total purse for the race in 2023. The winner gets 60% of that.

$112,504,509 – Dollars bet on Preakness day in 2021, the highest all-sources handle ever for the Preakness card.

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