The Preakness Stakes is held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland.

In 1918, 26 horses entered the race, and it was run in two divisions, resulting in two separate winners.

The Preakness Stakes has been run on Saturday afternoons since 1931. Previously, it had been run on every day except Sunday.

In 2012, the Maryland Racing Commission used new timing technology to determine that Secretariat won the Preakness in 1:53, not the 1:54.4 hand time that was originally announced. With the change, he holds the fastest time for each of the Triple Crown races.

On May 15, after appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Smarty Jones won the second leg of the Triple Crown with a victory at the 2004 Preakness Stakes by a record margin of 11½ lengths.

Hall-of-fame jockey Pat Day set a record by winning the Preakness with Tabasco Cat (1994), Timber Country (1995), and Louis Quatorze (1996).

After a 2009 alcohol ban resulted in lower-than-expected attendance rates, the Maryland Jockey Club responded with a new event called "InfieldFest" with performances by musical acts, an unlimited-refill beer mug, and a mascot named "Kegasus", a play on keg and pegasus (though actually a centaur). The much-derided Kegasus was retired in 2013.

Polynesian (1945), Native Dancer (1953), and Kauai King (1966) were the first father-son-grandson trio to capture the middle jewel of the Triple Crown.

Clarence Kummer rode Man o' War to nine wins in nine starts.

In 1903, Flocarline won with a time of 1:44⅘ with William Gannon aboard by 1/2 length over Mackey Dwyer and Rightful.