The 151^st Preakness Stakes May 16 at Laurel Park drew a full field of 3-year-0lds attempting to make history for their connections in the Triple Crown series. Fourteen accomplished jockeys will head to the starting gate Saturday evening, including two riders making their Preakness debuts and five that have Preakness wins on their résumés. Let’s meet them:

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Alex Achard

Age: 34

Originally from: France

Previous rides in the Preakness Stakes: none

Best finish: n/a

2026 Preakness horse: Great White

Alex Achard was all set to make his first start in the Kentucky Derby May 2 aboard Great White, and was waiting to enter the starting gate in front of more than 150,000 fans at Churchill Downs. Great White then reared back, unseated Achard, and flipped over. Appropriately, Great White was scratched from the Derby after that scary incident and he’s since resumed training for what will be Achard’s first Preakness appearance. The native of France is based in Kentucky and Indiana and has ridden Great White in all four of his career races.

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Junior Alvarado

Age: 39

Originally from: Venezuela

Previous rides in the Preakness Stakes: 2

Best finish: 4^th in 2012 (Zetterholm)

2026 Preakness horse: Crupper

Coming off of a career year in 2025 highlighted by his first Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes wins, veteran Junior Alvarado is keeping up the momentum. He piloted Chief Wallabee to a good fourth-place finish in this year’s Derby and now will ride Crupper in the Preakness. Alvarado was at Oaklawn Park April 19 to ride Sovereignty, last year’s Derby and Belmont winner, in the Oaklawn Handicap. While he was there, he picked up the mount on Crupper and guided him to a front-running win in the Bathhouse Row Stakes, clinching a Preakness berth.

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Rafael Bejarano

Age: 43

Originally from: Peru

Previous rides in the Preakness Stakes: 3

Best finish: 4^th in 2005 (Sun King)

2026 Preakness horse: Robusta

Rafael Bejarano has built a successful career spanning more than 20 years in the saddle. He was a one of the most accomplished jockeys on the Kentucky circuit in the 2000s before spending most of the 2010s in California. He returned to the Kentucky and Midwest circuits in 2020 and rides primarily at Oaklawn Park, Churchill Downs, and Ellis Park. Bejarano makes his first Preakness appearance in 17 years as he’ll take the reins for the first time on longshot Robusta, who finished 14^th in the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago.

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Tyler Gaffalione

Age: 31

Originally from: Florida

Previous rides in the Preakness Stakes: 3

Best finish: 1^st in 2019 (War of Will)

2026 Preakness horse: Ocelli

Tyler Gaffalione came very close to notching his first win in the Kentucky Derby May 1 as he steered Ocelli to a third-place finish under the Twin Spires at odds of 70.50-1. Ocelli came into the Derby as a maiden (a horse without a career win) and came a length short of becoming the first maiden to win the Derby since 1933. Now, the colt will attempt to become the first maiden Preakness winner since 1888! He’s got the right rider, as Gaffalione scored his first Preakness win in 2019 aboard War of Will.

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Micah Husbands

Age: 23

Originally from: Barbados

Previous rides in the Preakness Stakes: none

Best finish: n/a

2026 Preakness horse: Bull by the Horns

This has been a breakout spring for Micah Husbands. The young jockey, who is the nephew of the recently-retired Canadian Hall of Fame rider Patrick Husbands, held his own against some of the nation’s best during Gulfstream Park’s Championship Meet over winter 2025-’26, finishing 12^th in wins and 14^th by purse earnings. More importantly, he’s tallied his first four career graded stakes wins through 4 ½ months, including a Grade 1 win in the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park. All four graded wins were for trainer and fellow Barbados native Saffie Joseph Jr., and Husbands will make his Preakness debut on Joseph-trained Bull by the Horns.

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Paco Lopez

Age: 40

Originally from: Mexico

Previous rides in the Preakness Stakes: 1

Best finish: 5^th in 2020 (Max Player)

2026 Preakness horse: Napoleon Solo

Long one of the leading jockeys on the Mid-Atlantic circuit, especially at New Jersey’s Monmouth Park, Paco Lopez has somewhat surprisingly only had one prior Preakness Stakes mount. He’ll be back Saturday aboard Napoleon Solo, a colt Lopez took the mount on in the Wood Memorial Stakes and rode to a fifth-place finish after setting the early pace. Lopez is known as an aggressive jockey and could very well send Napoleon Solo to the lead once again in the Preakness.

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Irad Ortiz Jr.

Age: 33

Originally from: Puerto Rico

Previous rides in the Preakness Stakes: 7

Best finish: 2^nd in 2021 (Midnight Bourbon) and 2023 (Blazing Sevens)

2026 Preakness horse: Talkin

A five-time Eclipse Award winner as outstanding jockey, Irad Ortiz came a neck shy of winning his first Kentucky Derby two weeks ago as his mount Renegade rallied furiously from near the back of the field at Churchill Downs only to lose to Golden Tempo, piloted by Irad’s brother Jose. Irad has also endured a narrow runner-up defeat in the Preakness with Blazing Sevens, who lost to National Treasure by a head three years ago. He’ll take the reins for the first time on longshot Talkin for Saturday’s race, and will need to summon a career-best effort from the colt, who hasn’t won since his debut last August, to post the upset.

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Jose Ortiz

Age: 32

Originally from: Puerto Rico

Previous rides in the Preakness Stakes: 6

Best finish: 1^st in 2022 (Early Voting)

2026 Preakness horse: Chip Honcho

Few jockeys in recent years have reached a level of success comparable with what Jose Ortiz is currently experiencing. The younger brother of Irad Ortiz has been one of North America’s best riders for more than 10 years, winning the Eclipse Award in 2017, and he should be in the running for a second based on results through 4 ½ months that include a Kentucky Oaks-Kentucky Derby double just two weeks ago. He earned his first Derby win with a textbook come-from-last ride aboard Golden Tempo, who will bypass the Preakness Stakes. Ortiz has a solid chance to pick up his second Preakness victory, however, as he’s assigned to ride the Steve Asmussen-trained stakes winner Chip Honcho. Ortiz rode the colt to a maiden win last fall.

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Flavien Prat

Age: 33

Originally from: France

Previous rides in the Preakness Stakes: 3

Best finish: 1^st in 2021 (Rombauer)

2026 Preakness horse: Iron Honor

He’s won the last two Eclipse Awards as outstanding jockey, and Flavien Prat has also enjoyed success in his three prior Preakness appearances, winning his first time in the race aboard Rombauer and then finishing third and fourth the past two years. He’ll ride the slight morning-line favorite, Iron Honor at 9-2, in Saturday’s renewal. That colt won his first two starts in New York, including the Gotham Stakes, before finishing seventh in the Wood Memorial Stakes, leading trainer Chad Brown to decide to bypass the Kentucky Derby and wait for the Preakness.

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Sheldon Russell

Age: 38

Originally from: Louisiana

Previous rides in the Preakness Stakes: 3

Best finish: 5^th in 2023 (Chase the Chaos)

2026 Preakness horse: Taj Mahal

It’s a good bet that Sheldon Russell will receive a lot of fan support on-site at Laurel Park for Saturday’s Preakness, as the veteran jockey has won six riding titles at the suburban Maryland racetrack. Russell was born in Louisiana but raised in England as the son of jockey Dean Russell, who rode overseas. He earned his first career victory in England but soon moved to the U.S. in the mid-2000s and built a successful career on the Mid-Atlantic circuit. Many of Russell’s best horses have been trained by his wife, Brittany, and that’s the case with undefeated Taj Mahal, who has started his career 3-for-3 with two stakes wins, all at Laurel.

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Luis Saez

Age: 33

Originally from: Panama

Previous rides in the Preakness Stakes: 4

Best finish: 2^nd in 2018 (Bravazo) and 2025 (Gosger)

2026 Preakness horse: The Hell We Did

Luis Saez is back for a fifth start in the Preakness after nearly pulling off an upset win in the race last year. His mount, Gosger, took a five-length lead into the homestretch at Pimlico but yielded in the final strides to favorite Journalism — after that colt bulled his way between horses — and lost by a half-length. Saez also finished second to eventual Triple Crown winner Justify in his Preakness debut back in 2018 aboard Bravazo, in a race that was almost totally obscured by fog. Clear skies are in the forecast for May 16, and Saez gets back aboard longshot The Hell We Did for the Preakness after riding that colt to a runner-up finish in the Lexington Stakes last month at Keeneland.

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Ricardo Santana Jr.

Age: 33

Originally from: Panama

Previous rides in the Preakness Stakes: 3

Best finish: 3^rd in 2018 (Tenfold)

2026 Preakness horse: Pretty Boy Miah

Ricardo Santana Jr. returns to the Preakness after an five-year absence and will try to guide longshot Pretty Boy Miah to victory after riding the gelding to two consecutive wins earlier this year at Aqueduct. Santana earned eight riding titles at Oaklawn Park during the 2010s and early 2020s and is the all-time leading jockey based on purse earnings at the Arkansas track. In 2024, Santana started riding summers in New York, where he has continued to enjoy success.

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Jaime Torres

Age: 27

Originally from: Puerto Rico

Previous rides in the Preakness Stakes: 1

Best finish: 1^st in 2024 (Seize the Grey)

2026 Preakness horse: Incredibolt

Two years ago, Jaime Torres helped produce one of the most emotional Preakness results in recent years by steering Seize the Grey to a front-running win at Pimlico. That was the seventh Preakness victory for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who became the oldest trainer to win a Triple Crown race at age 88 (Lukas, who won a total of 15 races in the series, passed away a little more than a year later in June 2025). Seize the Grey was Torres’ first mount in the Preakness and won the race off of a two-week turnaround after taking the Pat Day Mile Stakes at Churchill Downs. Now, the jockey will ride Incredibolt right back in the Preakness after that colt finished a solid sixth in the Kentucky Derby.

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John Velazquez

Age: 54

Originally from: Puerto Rico

Previous rides in the Preakness Stakes: 14

Best finish: 1^st in 2023 (National Treasure)

2026 Preakness horse: Corona de Oro

Since 2020, Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez has finished third or better in four of his five Preakness Starts, topped by National Treasure’s gritty neck win three years ago. That was his first victory in the second jewel of the Triple Crown and his sixth win in the series overall, following three Kentucky Derby wins and two Belmont Stakes scores. Velazquez will get aboard longshot Corona de Oro for the first time Saturday; that colt enters off of a third-place finish in the Lexington Stakes and has shown improvement in his two recent starts when stretching out in distance.