Next year’s Preakness Stakes will take place on a Sunday for the first time since 1873, and the race will be held one week later than normal, Gov. Wes Moore announced Wednesday.
“The state of Maryland and Preakness are stepping into an exciting new era; and I am delighted that the Maryland Jockey Club has renewed its media partnership with NBC and Peacock,” Moore said. “The continuation of our partnership and the new schedule ensures optimal and accessible coverage for everyone from horseracing experts to casual fans, as our administration makes historic investments to leverage the iconic race as a cornerstone of Maryland’s history, culture and economy.”
The Preakness Stakes has traditionally been run two weeks after the Kentucky Derby, but this change widens that gap to three weeks. The Derby is scheduled to take place Saturday, May 1, 2027, which means the Preakness will follow on Sunday, May 23, 2027.
It also means horses racing in the Kentucky Derby have an extra week to recover and train if they plan to compete in the Preakness Stakes.
Meanwhile, the Belmont Stakes normally takes place three weeks after the Preakness, but is scheduled for June 5, 2027, narrowing that gap to just under two weeks.
Baltimore’s other major horseracing event during Preakness weekend, the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, is traditionally held on the Friday before the Preakness, but it will now move to Saturday.
The changes follow news that the Preakness Stakes is the only Triple Crown race to be left out of a new six-race Thoroughbred Championship Series being launched in 2027 by Churchill Downs Incorporated and The New York Racing Association Inc.
The races that did make the cut include the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs Racetrack; Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park; Matt Winn Stakes at Churchill Downs Racetrack; Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga Race Course; Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course; and Championship Race at Churchill Downs Racetrack.
In April, Kentucky Derby owner and operator Churchill Downs moved to purchase the Preakness Stakes and Black-Eyed Susan Stakes brands for $85 million.
But Maryland, given the right of first refusal, matched that offer in June. Last Thursday, the state announced it had finalized the deal to secure the intellectual property rights to both races.
Pimlico Race Course is undergoing a $400 million project to modernize and upgrade its facilities. After a temporary shift to Laurel Race Track this year, the Preakness and Black-Eyed Susan races are set to return to Pimlico in 2027.
“We look forward to seeing the Preakness continue to evolve in this next chapter,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott said. “As a son of Park Heights, I’m proud of the progress we’re making to ensure that this is an event held with the community, not just in the community—especially as announcements like this one bring new energy and tourism to the race.”
Our only annual International event has been owned by a Canadian company, The Stronach Group for 20 years.They only bought the 2 tracks because they thought that slots were coming in. After that didn’t happen, they did demolition by neglect on Pimlico, the second oldest American race track and a lot of cosmetic work on Laurel. They also tried to move the Preakness so that DC would benefit from the hotel/restaurant monies. We finally got them out of here with a promise that they could still own the race BUT, TSG decided to sell to Churchill Downs. a company notorious for buying up old race courses and selling the land. We are tired of OTHER non local people running things. Miffed at missing out on all the bucks that this event generates, CDI came up with this new championship series. We had to do this to keep OUR race in the running. Our Triple Crown is the gold standard of racing throughout the world. We should take this opportunity to market our place in it like never before. The horse industry has a $2,9 BILLION impact on our state!