who won the preakness: Preakness 2026 results, winners, race finish order: All about winner Napoleon Solo and why has Kentucky Derby champion Golden Tempo disappointed?
Napoleon Solo was the only Grade 1 winner in this field but finished fifth in his last two starts. Napoleon Solo rewarded Summers’ faith with a strong late run. Tucked behind pacesetter Taj Mahal, he took the lead at the final bend under Mexican-born jockey Paco Lopez.
Napoleon Solo edged Iron Honor to win the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, rallying after a pair of fifth-place finishes for his first victory of the year.
Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo was excluded from the race due to the rebuilding of Baltimore’s Pimlico, leaving a wide field of 14 horses to contest the middle jewel of this year’s Triple Crown at Laurel Park.
Taj Mahal was the top choice at 9-2; the longest odds for a Preakness favorite since the race became 1 3/16 miles in distance in 1925. Iron Honor was the morning favorite at 9-2 but was an 8-1 shot when the horses entered the starting gate.
Both Summers and Lopez earned their first Preakness wins.
Iron Honor, trained by two-time Preakness winner Chad Brown and ridden by US-based French jockey Flavien Prat, finished second, while Chip Honcho, trained by Steve Asmussen, finished third under jockey Jose Ortiz, who rode Golden Tempo to victory in the Kentucky Derby.
Two weeks after Golden Tempo made Cherie DeVaux the first female trainer to saddle a Kentucky Derby winner, Brittany Russell was hoping to become the first female trainer to win the Preakness with Taj Mahal.
The Laurel Park-based colt was sent off as the 9-2 favourite, leaving the first pole with Russell’s husband, Sheldon Russell, taking the lead immediately.
However, they could not hold on and fell to 10th place in the 14-horse race.
The decision by Golden Tempo’s connections to skip the Preakness took some of the excitement out of the race and ensured that this year the 14th horse would have no chance of achieving the coveted trio of Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes.
It was also unfamiliar territory for the Preakness, whose traditional home in Baltimore’s Pimlico was being renovated. This forced a move to Laurel Park in Pimlico, where crowds in recent years have been limited to around 4,000 people instead of more than 60,000 people.
The Triple Crown will culminate on June 6 with the Belmont Stakes, which will be run for the third consecutive year at Saratoga as renovations are completed at Belmont Park.
