Preakness Stakes: Pride of Pimlico Racecourse

Pimlico racecourse is the home of the Preakness Stakes - the second jewel of America’s Triple Crown races. The Preakness Stakes is run at a unique distance of a mile and three-sixteenths, making it a sixteenth shorter than the Kentucky Derby and 5/16ths shorter than the Belmont Stakes.

It has a prize of $1 million and although the Preakness Stakes is sometimes seen as the least of the three Triple Crown races, the sheer size of the prize and the excitement it generates makes it a major race for any horse to win.

Preakness Stakes Facts

• The Official Trophy

The Preakness Stakes winner is awarded with a replica of the Woodlawn Vase. The original Woodlawn Vase has been assessed a value of $1 million in 1983, making it the most valuable trophy in American sports.

The vase is 34 inches tall, and weighs 29 pounds, 12 ounces. The replica is a smaller silver version of the original.

• The Official Drink and Official Flower

Both the drink and the flower are called the “Black Eyed Susan”. The flowers are thrown across the Preakness Stakes winner’s neck. The flowers are actually daisies with black tint at the center.

Recent Preakness Stakes Winners

Preakness Stakes History

The Preakness Stakes was inaugurated in 1873, two years before Col. M. Lewis Clark's vision would bring the Kentucky Derby to the world. The Preakness Stakes was first proposed by then Maryland Governor Oden Bowie to honor the best three-year olds and was named in honor of the first horse to win at Pimlico racecourse. The horse Preakness won the Dinner Party Stakes in 1870.

About 12,000 people attended the first running of the Preakness Stakes and during that time, Pimlico racecourse was one of the most important tracks in the country. There were only seven horses in that first Preakness Stakes race and the winner was a colt named Survivor who won by 10 lengths. He still possesses the longest winning margin ever in the Preakness Stakes.

In the succeeding years, the Preakness Stakes was not able to attain the fame it had expected. In 1890, financial problems struck Pimlico racecourse and the Preakness Stakes was moved to Morris Park in New York and then Gravesend in Brooklyn. It wasn’t until 1909 when it was able to return home to Pimlico racecourse.

Upon its return to Pimlico racecourse, the Preakness Stakes was lavishly built into the grand tradition it is today. Among the distinctive traditions incorporated into the Preakness Stakes were the painting of the weather vane in the winner’s colors and the playing of “Maryland, My Maryland” during the post parade.

Preakness Stakes Trivia

• As soon as the Preakness is declared official, a painter climbs a ladder and splashes the winning owner's colors on the weather vane, where they remain until the next year's Preakness.

• Beginning with Sir Barton in 1919, a total of 28 Kentucky Derby winners also have won the Preakness Stakes. Of those, 11 went on to win the Belmont and win the Triple Crown.

• More than half of all Preakness Stakes winners have been bays, 66 of 127. 41 winners were chestnut, 15 brown, 2 blacks and 3 grays.

• Nellie Morse was the last filly to win the Peakness Stakes in 1924. The most recent filly to run in the Preakness was Excellent Meeting in 1999

Check out these Interesting Books on US Racecourse: