The Preakness at Laurel Park has a little bit of everything but the Kentucky Derby winner

Except for the Kentucky Derby winner going for the Triple Crown, the 151st running of the Preakness Stakes has a little bit of everything.

The Preakness features a venue change to a 115-year-old track that has never hosted the event, a field of some of the best 3-year-old colts in the country and a couple of chances to make horse racing history.

“This is a great race,” Maryland Jockey Club president and general manager Bill Knauf said. “It’s 14 horses: a great betting race. Incredibly hard handicapping race. And you don’t always have those.”

After Cherie DeVaux decided not to enter Golden Tempo two weeks after his thrilling last-to-first charge in the Derby, there is — just like that day — no obvious horse to beat. Six horses opened at odds of 8-1 or shorter.

The second leg of the Triple Crown moved down the road to Laurel Park for a one-time performance while Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore gets rebuilt from the ground up. The plan is for the Preakness to return to its traditional home next year, mid-construction, with the full Pimlico back in 2028.

Many of the top trainers have limited experience at Laurel, which will host the Preakness at the same 1 3/16-mile length.

“I’ve run horses there sparingly,” said Chad Brown, who has the slight morning line favorite Iron Honor. “The change for this year isn’t going to stop me from going and kind of seeing what happens.”

Tactically, the stretch run at Laurel is shorter than many tracks. The finish line comes 1,089 feet after the final turn, compared to 1,152 feet at Pimlico and 1,234 feet at Churchill Downs. It could be an edge for hometown horse Taj Mahal, who is unbeaten in all three of his races on the dirt course there.

"I’d like to think it’s beneficial that he’s had a good two-turn run over it," trainer Brittany Russell said. “That’s definitely in our favor.”

DeVaux two weeks ago became the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner, following Jena Antonnuci's 2023 Belmont victory with Archangelo, Russell has the chance to complete the Triple Crown sweep in the Preakness.

Russell feels like it would be a fairytale to win with Taj Mahal at her home track, where she started her business eight years ago and is stabled full time. With husband Sheldon riding the horse, it is a family story to root for.

“We’re just trying to keep it pretty simple,” said Sheldon Russell, who's set to take part in his fourth Preakness. “We both do our homework. We watch replays together. It’s nice because I know him. That’s a huge advantage, I would say. I’m happy, and I’m happy it’s one of Brittany’s horses that we get to have a ride in the race with.”

Ocelli is one of three Derby horses in the field, coming off finishing third as a 70-1 long shot, and could accomplish something not done in more than a century: No horse has broken his maiden — picked up his first win — in the Preakness since 1888.

Looking to join 19th-century champions like Refund, Saunterer, Cloverbrook, Shirley and Culpepper, Ocelli is 0 for 7 but he did win a 2-furlong trial race in Aiken, South Carolina, that doesn't count on his record.

“At an unrecognized racetrack and race meet, he is indeed a winner," trainer Whit Beckman said. "He knows how to put his head across the line first.”

With a capacity of just 4,800 at Laurel Park, tickets are hard to come by this year. The Preakness is set to air on NBC and Peacock, with post time scheduled for 7:01 p.m. EDT.

Brown, who has won the Preakness twice, pointed out that the $2 million race, even without the Derby winner, carries great importance in the sport, for the rest of this year and beyond. While Golden Tempo has the spotlight now, the Preakness could bring a rival to challenge him.

“Maybe there’s another star that’s going to emerge from this race and perhaps we’ll be looking back at the Preakness in a few months saying, ‘Wow, this was the start of this particular horse’s campaign that ended up being one of the top horses,’” Brown said. “Just not sure that’s not clear yet until we run the race.”

AP horse racing: https://apnews.com/hub/horse-racing

Trainer Brittany Russell talks to people in her barn ahead of the 102nd running of the Black-Eyed Susan horse race, Friday, May 15, 2026, at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Incredibolt walks through a barn ahead of the 102nd running of the Black-Eyed Susan horse race, Friday, May 15, 2026, at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

A horse works out at Laurel Park during sunrise, Friday, May 8, 2026, in Laurel, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

A horse works out at Laurel Park during sunrise, Friday, May 8, 2026, in Laurel, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Horses work out at sunrise ahead of the 102nd running of the Black-Eyed Susan horse race, Friday, May 15, 2026, at Laurel Park in Laurel, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Supreme Court on Friday refused to declare that Democratic lawmakers who briefly fled the state in 2025 to block a vote on new congressional voting maps pushed by President Donald Trump had vacated their office.

The all-Republican court dealt a blow to Gov. Greg Abbott and state Republicans in their efforts to severely punish the more than 50 Democrats who bolted for New York, Illinois and Massachusetts in a bid to stop a vote on the maps during a special session. State Republicans had sought their arrest and threatened fines to bring them back to the state Capitol.

Abbott had argued in a lawsuit filed directly to the state’s highest civil court that state Rep. Gene Wu, the leader of the House Democratic caucus, and others had effectively abandoned their office.

Wu had argued that he was not abandoning his office in the quorum break, but was exercising a right to dissent.

In denying Abbott’s request, the court opinion written by Justice James Blacklock noted that the Republican-majority Legislature had adequately resolved the problem itself through measures such as fines against the missing lawmakers, and that they eventually returned on their own within a few weeks.

“In the end, a quorum was restored in two weeks’ time, without judicial intervention, by the interplay of political and practical forces,” Blacklock wrote.

“Courts have uniformly recognized that it is not their role to resolve disputes between the other two branches that those branches can resolve for themselves,” the opinion said.

If the issue rises again and the Legislature cannot effectively compel lawmakers to return, the court may someday consider whether the courts should step in, the opinion said.

“When Greg Abbott threatened to arrest and expel us for denying him a quorum, we told him he should ‘come and take it.’ He tried!” Wu said in a statement Friday. “Abbott was wrong, weak, and after all his bluster, he couldn’t come and take a damn thing.”

Wu and the other lawmakers eventually returned to Texas, and the new map was passed and signed into law by Abbott.

Wu had argued that because he had returned to the Capitol and the map was eventually signed into law, there was no longer any reason for the court to weigh in.

“Their return is robust proof that they never intended to abandon their offices,” Wu argued in legal briefs. “Despite the overheated rhetoric, this quorum break was always understood to be temporary.”

The Texas walkout intensified into a high-stakes national drama as Trump urged Texas and other GOP-controlled states to redraw their congressional districts to help Republicans maintain control of the U.S. House. The Texas map effort set off a wave of similar efforts across several states as governors from both parties pledged to redraw maps with the goal of giving their political candidates a leg up in the 2026 midterm elections.

The state constitution requires that at least 100 of the 150 House members be present to conduct business, and the quorum break effectively shut down a special legislative session Abbott had called to address redistricting and other issues, including aid to communities hit by the devastating July Fourth floods that killed more than 100 people.

In 2021, the court ruled that the Texas Constitution enables the possibility of a quorum break but also allows for consequences to bring members back.

Last year's Democratic walkout was the third since 2003, when lawmakers bolted to stop a vote on a redistricting bill. They did it again in 2021 over an elections bill. In both cases, they were temporary victories as Democrats eventually returned and the Republican majority in the Legislature ultimately passed both measures into law.

FILE - Texas state Rep. Gene Wu speaks to the crowd before California Gov. Gavin Newsom during a rally with Harris County Democrats at the IBEW local 716 union hall on Nov. 8, 2025, in Houston. (AP Photo/Karen Warren, File)

FILE - Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Gabriela Passos, File)