The 2026 Preakness Stakes will feature Iron Honor as the 9-2 favorite, with Chip Honcho, Incredibolt, and Taj Mahal at 5-1 odds. The race takes place on Saturday at Laurel Park, with a maximum field of 14 horses.
Key points
Iron Honor is the 9-2 favorite for the 2026 Preakness Stakes
Chip Honcho, Incredibolt, and Taj Mahal are all at 5-1 odds
The race will take place on Saturday at Laurel Park
The Preakness Stakes has a maximum field of 14 horses
Jody Demling has a strong track record in horse racing predictions
Mentioned in this story
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Preakness Stakes
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Several horses who qualified for the Kentucky Derby bypassed the race, with their connections instead pointing them to the 2026 Preakness Stakes. This includes Iron Honor, Chip Honcho and Talkin, as the Preakness Stakes 2026 differs from the Derby in both distance and field size. The former is 1/16 mile shorter than the Derby, while the Preakness is limited to a maximum of 14 horses, compared to 20 for the Kentucky Derby. These horses' connections will find out if they made the right decision when the 2026 Preakness Stakes takes place on Saturday at Laurel Park.
Iron Honor finds himself as the 9-2 favorite, followed closely by a trio of thoroughbreds. The latest 2026 Preakness Stakes odds have Chip Honcho, Incredibolt and Taj Mahal all at 5-1 to utilize in horse racing bets. Talkin is a 20-1 longshot as he seeks his first win since August. Before making any 2026 Preakness Stakes picks, be sure to see the 2026 Preakness Stakes predictions and best bets from SportsLine's elite horse racing expert Jody Demling.
A fixture in the horse racing world who has been writing about, talking about and betting on races for years, Demling hit the top three finishers in the 2025 Kentucky Derby in the correct order. He also called 11 of the last 21 Preakness winners, including 2023, when he hit the winner, exacta, trifecta and superfecta. He hit the trifecta in the 2024 Preakness Stakes and nailed Journalism as the 2025 Preakness winner. Anyone who has followed him on horse racing betting sites could be way up.
Now, with the 2026 Preakness Stakes horses finalized, Demling is sharing his 2026 Preakness Stakes betting picks and 2026 Preakness Stakes predictions over at SportsLine. Go to SportsLine to see them.
Q&A
What are the odds for the top horses in the 2026 Preakness Stakes?
Iron Honor is the favorite at 9-2, while Chip Honcho, Incredibolt, and Taj Mahal are all at 5-1.
When is the 2026 Preakness Stakes scheduled?
The 2026 Preakness Stakes is scheduled to take place on Saturday at Laurel Park.
How does the Preakness Stakes differ from the Kentucky Derby?
The Preakness Stakes is 1/16 mile shorter than the Kentucky Derby and has a maximum field size of 14 horses compared to 20 for the Derby.
Who is Jody Demling and what are his predictions for the Preakness Stakes?
Jody Demling is an elite horse racing expert known for accurately predicting winners, including 11 of the last 21 Preakness winners.
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Top 2026 Preakness Stakes picks for Taj Mahal, Incredibolt, Iron Honor
One of Demling's surprising 2026 Preakness Stakes picks: He has Taj Mahal outside the top 5 on his projected leaderboard despite him being tied with Chip Honcho and Incredibolt for the second-lowest odds at 5-1. He's a perfect 3-for-3 in his career, with all his wins coming at Laurel Park. That comfort level around this track is a big factor in why he's among the favorites. Level of competition, however, is a question mark since he hasn't faced the caliber of horses that many who were on the Derby trail have, so Demling does not have him as a top-3 pick in his early Preakness predictions.
Demling has also locked in his picks for Iron Honor, the 9-2 morning-line favorite. Sired by 2016 Kentucky Derby champion Nyquist, Iron Honor won his first two starts which put him on the radar. However, he faltered in his last race in a major way, placing seventh at the Wood Memorial. That led to his connections bypassing the Kentucky Derby, despite qualifying for it, as Iron Honor will make his first start outside of Aqueduct this Saturday.
The horse is trained by two-time Preakness winner, Chad Brown, and will be ridden by one-time Preakness champion, Flavien Prat. The 2026 Preakness will be the first time that Brown and Flat team together at this race as neither finished in the money in their last respective Preakness stars. Iron Honor is hoping for a better finish than Nyquist had at the 2016 Preakness as the latter finished third despite being the favorite.
Demling has also evaluated the chances of Incredibolt, who is 5-1 on the morning line. One of three holdovers from the Kentucky Derby, Incredibolt placed sixth at Churchill Downs, as he's alternated wins with sixth-place finishes over his last four starts. He prevailed at the G3 Street Sense Stakes and the Virginia Derby while also finishing sixth, among six horses, at the G3 Holy Bull Stakes. Incredibolt is trained by Riley Mott, who will be making his Preakness debut, but the horse's jockey, Jamie Torres, won the 2024 Preakness aboard Seize the Grey. See what horses Demling is backing at SportsLine.
How to make 2026 Preakness Stakes predictions, bets
