Visitors Guide

Starting post positions for the 135th Preakness® Stakes will be drawn Wednesday afternoon, May 12, 2010. Pimlico racing officials will use a pill pull, which employs a small numbered ball in a blind draw, to decide post positions for the middle jewel of racing's Triple Crown.

The Preakness post position draw is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Pimlico's Turfside Terrace. Connections will be available for media interviews immediately following the draw.

The Preakness is limited to 14 starters. Fourteen of the last 17 years have produced double-digit starters.

LIST OF WINNERS POST POSITION SINCE 1909 (pdf)

See the photos of the 2009 Preakness Draw in our photo gallery. (Click Here)

It all started in the late 1930s on the porch of the Pimlico Clubhouse where a group of trainers, owners and dignitaries would gather to detail the merits of their horses.

The group met from the first training period at 6am to the end of training at 10am. Notable trainers such as Yancey Christmas and Horatio Luro would swap information with the other gentlemen, telling some of the best racing stories, but offering no alibis. The veracity of some of these tales was questionable as conflicting information regarding the condition of the horse, jockey, track and trainer was combined with half-truths.

Today’s Alibi Breakfast, named in the 1940s by publicity director David Woods, is a modern update of the original ritual: media people gather with owners, trainers, jockeys and horsemen to celebrate Preakness and solicit race predictions.

See the photos of the 2009 Alibi Breakfast in our photo gallery. (Click Here)

Experience sunrise over Old Hilltop at Pimlico. The 20 minute tours run from 6am - 9am, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of Preakness Week. After enjoying sunrise on the Grandstand Apron, you will get an insider's perspective on racing during an escorted tour of the Preakness Stakes Barn. You never know who you may run into on the backside...trainers, vets, owners, blacksmiths, exercise riders or jockeys. The Barn area is one place you can count on an interesting story! You will have an opportunity to shop for Preakness Souvenirs, stop by the Pimlico Museum and maybe even peek into the jockey's quarters, then head back outside to watch the horses go through their morning workouts. The tour guides bring with them a wealth of experience and add a personal touch that can't be beat!

Reservations are not taken, tours are on a first come, first serve basis. For more information email Diana Harbaugh at dharbaugh@marylandracing.com.

Celebrity jockey autograph session featuring the Challenge and Legend riders. Come meet your favorite jockeys in person.

Daily Race Form Handcapping Seminar with Andrew Beyer, Jay Privman and other racing experts. Have questions? They just may have the answer!

Fill that empty space on your library shelf and come meet Lynda Sasscer-Hill, the author of the new murder mystery book, FULL MORTALITY. This is the first in a series of books about a female jockey.

One of Pimlico’s oldest stakes races, the Black-Eyed Susan was first run at Pimlico in 1919 as the Pimlico Oaks; but the name was later changed in 1952 to compliment the Preakness and to acknowledge the Maryland state flower. The mile and one-eighth test for three-year-old fillies is traditionally run the Friday before the Preakness. The race was first graded in 1973 and has been a Grade II event since 1976.

Among the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes winners are classic fillies as Nellie Morse, who was the only filly ever to also take the Preakness; Gallorette; High Voltage; Caesar's Wish and Wide Country.

The 37th Annual Preakness Parade with Grand Marshal Willis McGahee (#23 Baltimore Ravens running back) will take place on Pratt Street in the heart of the Inner Harbor. Be dazzled by colorful floats, helium-balloon characters, equestrians, marching bands, and military units. The Parade will step-off at Market Place, proceed up Pratt Street, and end at First Mariner Arena.

Preakness InfieldFest is a multi-entertainment festival experience featuring live national music acts, unique attractions and great food that will thrill and excite fans throughout the day as they await the headline event – the 135th running of the Preakness Stakes. Check out what’s happening by going to www.preakness.com/infield !

Click here to visit The Infield

On a late summer evening in 1868, an agreement among sportsmen to stage a special race to commemorate a memorable occasion became the foundation for the middle jewel of racing's Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes.

The Preakness Stakes has remained throughout history a true test of a horse's ability and class, a race where remarkable horses meet one another in a great classic.

The phrase "Triple Crown" was not coined until the 1930's, but it is this race on every third Saturday in May where the best Derby horses gather to see if there will be that window of opportunity for a Triple Crown Prospect. Much goes on during this colorful time at Pimlico, but it has always been the horse that draws the fans. As poet Ogden Nash wrote:

“The Derby is a race of aristocratic sleekness, for horses of birth to prove their worth to run in the Preakness.”