Napoleon Solo wins 151st Preakness Stakes
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Napoleon Solo took home the 2026 Preakness Stakes on Saturday, the race’s 151st running.
Horse 1, the favorite for Taj Mahal, was in the lead from the start until the final corner, until Napoleon Solo made his move from the outside and took the lead at the top. As the Taj Mahal fell, the 9th horse, Iron Honor, secretly stood up, but the effort was ultimately not enough.
Napoleon Solo opened at 8-1 and closed at 7-1. Iron Honor came in second with a score of 8-1, while Chip Honcho came in third with a score of 11-1. Ocelli, one of three horses to run both the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago and Saturday’s Preakness, finished fourth at 8-1.
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A Preakness-branded starting gate is seen at the track ahead of the 151st Preakness Stakes to be held at Laurel Park on May 16, 2026 in Laurel, Maryland. Laurel Park is hosting the Preakness Stakes, the second race of the Triple Crown jewel, for the first and only time due to the complete renovation of Pimlico Race Course, the traditional home of the races. (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
A $1 Exacta yielded $53.60, while a $1 trifecta yielded $597.10. But someone out there is very lucky, because the $1 super high five (which picks the top five finishers in order) paid $12,015.70.
Moreover, the 20-cent Pick 6, which determines the winners of six consecutive races, the final of which is the Preakness, paid $33,842.34.
The race was run without a Kentucky Derby winner for the second year in a row. After Sovereignty did not run the Preakness last year and won the Belmont Stakes, Golden Tempo’s training squad decided to skip the Maryland race.
From 1960 to 2018, only three Derby winners did not compete in the Preakness. Three Derby winners in the last five years have skipped the Preakness, and for the sixth time in eight years, the Triple Crown was already impossible to achieve for various reasons until the Preakness came along.
“I understand fans of the sport or fans of the Triple Crown are disappointed, but the horse is not a machine,” Golden Tempo’s trainer Cherie DeVaux told Fox News Digital earlier this week.
Paco Lopez, right, atop Napoleon Solo, holds off Iron Honor ridden by Flavien Prat to win the 151st running of the Preakness Stakes horse race on Friday, May 15, 2026, at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
CHERIE DEVAUX IS THINKING OF MAKING KENTUCKY Derby HISTORY BY BEING THE FIRST FEMALE COACH TO WIN THE RACE
Only three horses from two weeks ago (Ocelli, Robusta and Incredibolt) had returned to the Preakness. Corona de Oro, the 11th horse on Saturday, was scratched well ahead of the Derby, and the Great White, who was startled and reared up and fell on his back shortly before entering the Derby gate, took 13th place on Saturday.
The Preakness broke out about 24 hours after a horse died following the completion of his first race.
Trained by Brittany Russell, Hit Zero entered the race as the favourite. However, he finished last in the race, which was won by one of Russell’s horses, Bold Fact, and after crossing the finish line, it was reported that Hit Zero began coughing, fell to his knees, then put his head on the ground and died.
The Preakness was held at Laurel Park as Pimlico was undergoing renovations. Heading about 20 miles south, Pimlico did not host the race for the first time.
Paco Lopez atop Napoleon Solo wins the 151st running of the Preakness Stakes horse race at Laurel Park on Friday, May 15, 2026 in Laurel, Maryland. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
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The last Triple Crown race, the Belmont Stakes, will take place on June 6. Racing will return to Saratoga for the third year in a row as Belmont Park continues its renovation.
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