Results of 2026 Preakness Stakes Picks
Congrats to Napoleon Solo in Winning the Preakness Stakes!
It was another exciting Triple Crown Series race even without the Kentucky Derby winner and runner up, Golden Tempo and Renegade, as Napoleon Solo and Iron Honor provided us with a stretch run that looked like Iron Honor was going to pass the leader Napoleon Solo with his next stride. But it never happended as Napoleon Solo was able to hold him off and win by 1 1/4 lengths.
Ridden by Paco Lopez and trained by Chad Summers, Napoleon Solo rebounded off back-2-back 5th place showings in the Wood Memorial and Fountain of Youth Stakes after having won both of his 2-yearold races including the G1 Champaign S.
It was a full field of (14) runners with only (3) KY Derby horses showing up, Ocelli (3rd), Incredibolt (6th) and Robusta (14th), they finished 4th, 5th and 9th respectively in the Preakness Stakes. The rest of the field was comprised of (11) "New Shooters". The field is considered to be one of the less talented in many years in the 2nd Leg of the Triple Crown Series!
The locally based runner Taj Mahal, winner of the Federico Tesio last out and undefeated in 3 starts over the Laurel track, was the pace setter coming from Post No. 1 as he led the field to just past the 3/4 pole and all along being closely followed by the winner Napoleon Solo who took the lead at the 5/16 and had to hold off the charging Iron Honor for the final 1/8 of a Mile.
Chip Honcho raced 3-wide in first turn between rivals and got into a stalking position down the backstretch and into the final turn and moved up to take aim at the leaders but then started to drop back and finish 3rd 3 1/4 lengths behind Iron Honor. The KY Derby 3rd place runner Ocelli, bobbled at the break and got bumped around as he settled into his normal closing spot near the back of the field and saving ground until angling out in the final turn where he was closing 4-wide in the stretch to get up for 4th 2 3/4 lengths behind Chip Honcho.
"New Shooters" ran 1-2-3 and (2) KY Derby horses ran 4th and 5th.
Final time of the race was 1:58 3/5 which was the slowest since 1950 when Hill Prince finished in 1:59 1/5 (another indication of the quality of the field)!
With the move of the race from Pimlico to Laurel Park the on-track attendance was limited to just 4,800 racing fans as compared to the thousands of fans normally partying in the infield at Pimlico with live band music. The return to Pimlico next year will be greatly appreciated by all!
In Our Preakness Stakes Picks:
In a (14) horse field our betting strategy requires us to identify 2A, 2B and 3C horses that are the main Contenders for making up the Exacta, Trifecta and Superfecta wagers. The A horse are our picks to get the win.
We made Incredibolt (5-1) our and Iron Honor (9/2) Top picks for getting the win. Since (9) of last (15) winners were last seen in the KY Derby where he finihed 6th making up a lot of ground late and finished nicely on his runout after the race.
We felt strongly that if a "New-Shooter" would win, which they did in (5) of last 6 editions, it would be Iron Honor as his trainer Chad Brown had won twice previously with a "New Shooter" who had made his last start in the Wood Memorial just like Iron Honor! What we were concerned about was he being made the M/L Favorite and favorites have only won in 4 of last 15 years. At Post Time he was no longer the favorite which we liked.
The race was Wide-Open as there was (6) runners with M/L Odds of between (9/2) - (8-1) with (3) of them at (5-1).
We made Incredibolt (5-1) our A1 and Iron Honor (9/2) A2, used Chip Honcho (5-1) and Ocelli (6-1) as our Bs along with Taj Mahal (5-1), Talkin (20-1) and Napoleon Solo (8-1) as the Cs and to use Corona de Oro (30-1) and Robusta (30-1) as runners to use if there were any scratches. The were no Scratches in the race.
Incredibolt ran his usall Closing race but did not get quick enough fractions being set on the front end. He was saving ground running on the inside untill the 3/8 pole where he was moved outward and then came 6-wide for his stretch drive to finish 5th behind fellow KY Derby runner Ocelli had a slight bobble at the start but then placed himself in a stalking position behind the two pace setters all the way down the backside and entering the far turn where he was floated out four wide into the stretch and then weakened and fell back to finish 6th. As you can see we had all of the first 5 runners across the finish line in our selections which did allow us to cashin on the $104.20 Exacta, $597.10 Trifecta and the $2,377.80 Superfecta using our wagering strategy and recommended wagers! In our Picks for the Pick 5, Pick 4 and Pick 3 wagers that ended with the Preakness Stakes, we had the winner in each leg with the exception of Napoleon Solo in the Preakness. 50CENT Wagers paid P5 - $7,080, P4 - $1,489, P3 - $300. The Belmont Stakes, the final Leg of the Triple Crown series, is up next on June 6th and will be held at Saratoga for the 3rd and final year at the reduced distance of 1 1/4 Miles, not the usual 1 1/2 Miles. The newly renovated/re-build of Belmont Park opens in Sptember.
It is looking like we will get a Showdown of the KY Derby winner Golden Tempo & the runner-up Renegade?
If you did not sign up for our Triple Crown Series Picks you can sign up for our Belmont Stakes Picks by Clicking here Now...
The race was Wide-Open as there was (6) runners with M/L Odds of between (9/2) - (8-1) with (3) of them at (5-1).
We made Incredibolt (5-1) our A1 and Iron Honor (9/2) A2, used Chip Honcho (5-1) and Ocelli (6-1) as our Bs along with Taj Mahal (5-1), Talkin (20-1) and Napoleon Solo (8-1) as the Cs and to use Corona de Oro (30-1) and Robusta (30-1) as runners to use if there were any scratches. The were no Scratches in the race.
Incredibolt ran his usall Closing race but did not get quick enough fractions being set on the front end. He was saving ground running on the inside untill the 3/8 pole where he was moved outward and then came 6-wide for his stretch drive to finish 5th behind fellow KY Derby runner Ocelli had a slight bobble at the start but then placed himself in a stalking position behind the two pace setters all the way down the backside and entering the far turn where he was floated out four wide into the stretch and then weakened and fell back to finish 6th. As you can see we had all of the first 5 runners across the finish line in our selections which did allow us to cashin on the $104.20 Exacta, $597.10 Trifecta and the $2,377.80 Superfecta using our wagering strategy and recommended wagers! In our Picks for the Pick 5, Pick 4 and Pick 3 wagers that ended with the Preakness Stakes, we had the winner in each leg with the exception of Napoleon Solo in the Preakness. 50CENT Wagers paid P5 - $7,080, P4 - $1,489, P3 - $300. The Belmont Stakes, the final Leg of the Triple Crown series, is up next on June 6th and will be held at Saratoga for the 3rd and final year at the reduced distance of 1 1/4 Miles, not the usual 1 1/2 Miles. The newly renovated/re-build of Belmont Park opens in Sptember.
It is looking like we will get a Showdown of the KY Derby winner Golden Tempo & the runner-up Renegade?
If you did not sign up for our Triple Crown Series Picks you can sign up for our Belmont Stakes Picks by Clicking here Now...