Iron Honor gets nod as Preakness favorite
Incredibolt surprising late entry
The Biz
May 11, 2026
Saturday’s 151st renewal of the Grade 1 Preakness received a late entry that surprised most observers, and a morning line favorite that surprised his own trainer.
The 1 3/16-mile Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown, being run at Laurel Park for the first time while construction continues on a new Pimlico Race Course facility, drew a full field of 14 3-year-olds for the first time since 2011, when Shackleford defeated 13 rivals.
It is the 13th of 14 races on the Saturday card.
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Iron Honor, a winner of each of his first two starts before finishing seventh in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial April 4 at Aqueduct, has been installed as the lukewarm 9-2 morning line favorite. Flavien Prat will ride.
“I like the horse, I like the spot for him, but based on his last start, I was surprised he was made the morning-line favorite,” Brown said in a release. “But I am not surprised that he fits in this race.”
He will leave from the nine-hole, and Brown said his horse “should not have any excuse from there.”
The surprise entrant was Incredibolt. The Riley Mott trainee was on pretty much no one’s lips as a Preakness runner after a hard-trying sixth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby.
“The horse is doing extremely well,” Mott said in a release. “He came out of the Derby in good shape, and we have been clocking the field of (Preakness) horses and we thought it would be the right opportunity to try the horse back.”
He is 5-1 on the morning line and will have Jaime Torres in the irons.
Local hopeful Taj Mahal and the Steve Asmussen-trained Chip Honcho are both also 5-1.
Taj Mahal, trained at Laurel by Brittany Russell, improved to 3-for-3 in his young career with a dominant win in the Federico Tesio Stakes, the final local Preakness prep. He drew the one-hole and will have Russell’s husband, jockey Sheldon Russell, in the irons.
“When I saw that [5-1 odds] I thought, ‘Cool, he’s getting some respect,’” Brittany Russell said. “That’s nice to see.”
What wasn’t so nice to see, however, was the inside draw, which she said was “the only spot I was hoping not to be.”
Chip Honcho enters the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown off a disappointing fifth in the March 21 Louisiana Derby (G2) at Fair Grounds, where he had previously won the Gun Runner and finished a close-up second in the Risen Star (G2).
He will leave from the six-hole with Jose Ortiz, fresh off piloting Golden Tempo to a Kentucky Derby upset, in the irons. Asmussen called the draw “perfect.”
Ocelli, the Whit Beckman-trained maiden who nearly pulled off a 70-1 shocker in the Kentucky Derby before settling for third, is 6-1 on the morning line and will leave from post number two.
In search of his first career win after seven defeats, he will carry Tyler Gaffalione from post number two.
“I think our most effective running style dictates sitting back off the pace,” Beckman said. “So being in the [inside], we can just kind of break and save some ground going into that first turn, and kind of let the race develop in front of us. In the Derby, we had to cut over quite a bit [from post position No. 17] just to get to the first turn.”
The only other runner in single digits is Napoleon Solo, who is 8-1. Tied with Iron Honor for the career-best Beyer speed figure, a 95 he attained in winning the Grade 1 Champagne last October, he is the only Grade 1 winner in the field.
The Chad Summers trainee will have Paco Lopez up and leave from post eight.
PREAKNESS STAKES ENTRIES
| Post | Horse | Odds | Jockey | Trainer | Owner |
| 1 | Taj Mahal | 5-1 | Russell S | Russell Brittany T | SF Racing, LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, et. al. |
| 2 | Ocelli | 6-1 | Gaffalione T | Beckman D Whitworth | Durr, Ashley, Tate, Anthony and Front Page Equestrian |
| 3 | Crupper | 30-1 | Alvarado J | Von Hemel Donnie K | Robert H. Zoellner |
| 4 | Robusta | 30-1 | Bejarano R | O’Neill Doug | Calumet Farm |
| 5 | Talkin | 20-1 | Ortiz I Jr | Gargan Danny | Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Pine Racing Stables, et. al. |
| 6 | Chip Honcho | 5-1 | Ortiz J L | Asmussen Steven M | Leland Ackerley Racing, LLC, James Sherwood. et. al. |
| 7 | The Hell We Did | 15-1 | Saez L | Fincher Todd W | Peacock Family Racing Stable, LLC |
| 8 | Bull by the Horns | 30-1 | Husbands M J | Joseph Saffie A Jr | Peachtree Stable and Corrado, Mark |
| 9 | Iron Honor | 9-2 | Prat F | Brown Chad C | St. Elias Stable, William H. Lawrence, et. al. |
| 10 | Napoleon Solo | 8-1 | Lopez P | Summers Chad | Gold Square LLC |
| 11 | Corona de Oro | 30-1 | Velazquez J R | Stewart Dallas | On Our Own Stable, LLC, Commonwealth Stables, et. al. |
| 12 | Incredibolt | 5-1 | Torres J A | Mott Riley | Pin Oak Stud LLC |
| 13 | Great White | 15-1 | Achard A | Ennis John | Three Chimneys Farm and Ennis, John |
| 14 | Pretty Boy Miah | 15-1 | Santana R Jr | Englehart Jeremiah C | Team Penney Racing, Echo Racing, Flower City Racing LLC, et. al. |
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