Preparations are underway at Laurel Park for the 151st running of the Preakness Stakes, and next weekend’s race will be staged outside its traditional home for the first time. With Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore under renovation, Laurel Park will host the middle jewel of the Triple Crown and crews are getting the track and barns ready for an expected full field of 14 horses.

Mike Rogers said all eyes are going to be on Laurel next weekend, calling the shift pretty exciting. The stakes are already rising with Ocelli, who finished third in the Kentucky Derby, arriving at Laurel Park this week inside the stables on May 11, 2026. Rogers said the Derby winner will not run because the turnaround was considered too quick, and he described that absence as a gut punch. Even so, he said, “We’re going to have a full field of 14 horses Saturday.”

That full field will be packed into a venue with a very different feel from Pimlico. Laurel Park has no infield because a lake occupies that space, and spectators will be limited to the grandstand and apron areas. Attendance has been capped at about 4,800, far below the crowds that traditionally packed Pimlico and its infield festival area, where more than 100,000 fans were common for the race.

Rogers said the interest has been greater than in the past from a horse perspective, and he framed the weekend as a reminder of how deeply racing is woven into the state. “Horses and horse racing are deep in the roots of Maryland,” he said. “The Preakness has been around for 151 years, and it’s not going anywhere.”

Laurel Park is only a temporary host, and organizers plan for the Preakness to return to Pimlico next year after the renovations are completed. For now, the race runs in a different setting with a smaller crowd, a changed layout and the same pressure that comes with the 151st Preakness Stakes.