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For the second year in a row, the Kentucky Derby winner will not be competing at the Preakness Stakes. Golden Tempo, trained by Cherie DeVaux, will instead compete at the Belmont Stakes on June 6. The $2 million 2026 Preakness Stakes will be held on Saturday at 7:01 p.m. ET from Laurel Park in Laurel, Md. For the first time in the modern era, the event will not be held at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, which is being renovated.
The Preakness, like the Kentucky Derby, is a Grade I Thoroughbred stakes race and is 9.5 furlongs, which is 1 3/16-miles long. Iron Honor (9-2) enters as the favorite, followed by Chip Honcho (5-1), Incredibolt (5-1), Taj Mahal (5-1), Ocelli (6-1) and Napoleon Solo (8-1). Before making any 2026 Preakness Stakes picks, be sure to see the 2026 Preakness Stakes predictions and best bets from SportsLine’s elite horse racing expert Jody Demling.
A fixture in the horse racing world who has been writing about, talking about and betting on races for years, Demling hit the top three finishers in the 2025 Kentucky Derby in the correct order. He also called 11 of the last 21 Preakness winners, including 2023, when he hit the winner, exacta, trifecta and superfecta. He hit the trifecta in the 2024 Preakness Stakes and nailed Journalism as the 2025 Preakness winner. Anyone who has followed him on horse racing betting sites could be way up.
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Now, with the 2026 Preakness Stakes horses finalized, Demling is sharing his 2026 Preakness Stakes betting picks and 2026 Preakness Stakes predictions over at SportsLine. Go to SportsLine to see them.
Top 2026 Preakness Stakes picks for Taj Mahal, Incredibolt, Iron Honor
One of Demling’s surprising 2026 Preakness Stakes picks: He has Taj Mahal outside the top 5 on his projected leaderboard despite him being tied with Chip Honcho and Incredibolt for the second-lowest odds at 5-1. He’s a perfect 3-for-3 in his career, with all his wins coming at Laurel Park. That comfort level around this track is a big factor in why he’s among the favorites. Level of competition, however, is a question mark since he hasn’t faced the caliber of horses that many who were on the Derby trail have, so Demling does not have him as a top-3 pick in his early Preakness predictions.
Demling has also locked in his picks for Iron Honor, the 9-2 morning-line favorite. Iron Honor has two wins in three races to start his career. The sire of 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist, won his first race this past December – the six-furlong MSW at Aqueduct. He followed that up with a win at the 2026 Gotham at Aqueduct in February.
That impressive start to his career opened people’s eyes on just how good he could be. But a disappointing seventh-place finish at the 2026 Wood Memorial put up some red flags. Iron Honor is also hoping for a better Preakness finish than Nyquist. After his Derby win, Nyquist dropped to third at the 2016 Preakness despite being the favorite to win it.
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Demling has evaluated Incredibolt’s chances. Incredibolt is coming off a sixth-place finish at the May 2 Kentucky Derby. The Riley Mott-trained colt has posted three wins in his career, but has also finished fourth once and sixth twice. He is the son of Bolt d’Oro, who finished 12th at the 2018 Kentucky Derby.
Incredibolt opened his career with a fourth-place finish last August at the MSW at Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky. He followed that up with back-to-back wins. He took first at the MSW race at Churchill Downs, and was first at the 2025 Street Sense in October. After a sixth-place finish at the 2026 Holy Bull, he registered his last win at the 2026 Virginia Derby in March. See what horses Demling is backing at SportsLine.
How to make 2026 Preakness Stakes predictions, bets
Demling is also especially high on an epic double-digit longshot “with a chance” to win it all. Anyone who backs this sleeper pick could hit it big. Demling is sharing which horse it is, along with his entire projected 2026 Preakness Stakes leaderboard, over at SportsLine.
Which horse wins the Preakness Stakes 2026, and which stunning longshot is a must-back? Check out the latest 2026 Preakness Stakes odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Demling’s picks for the Preakness Stakes, all from the expert who has nailed the last three winners.
