Preakness Horse Race 2010

In 2009, the Preakness Stakes had its 134th running. Every year 3-year-old thoroughbreds enter the gate for an important 1 3/16 mile race. The purse of the Preakness Stakes is $1 million.

The Preakness Stakes is the second leg in the prestigious Triple Crown. It takes place just a couple of weeks after the Kentucky Derby. One horse enters the gate as the Kentucky Derby winner and as the only horse with the chance to be this year's Triple Crown Winner. The other horses enter the gate looking to knock off that horse, win some money, and get some fame.

Like all three of the Triple Crown races, the Preakness Stakes is an event unto itself. In mid May, horse racing fans - and those just wishing to be seen - come out to the Pimlico Race Course, which is in Baltimore, Maryland. It's not as glamorous as the Kentucky Derby or the Belmont Stakes, but that's because it's stuck in the middle of the race for the Triple Crown.

Preakness Race Track

The Preakness Stakes has a long and rich history. Do you know where the name for the race came from? Well, it certainly has nothing to do with the name of the track! It actually came from a horse - big surprise perhaps. In 1870, a horse named Preakness won the Dinner Party Stakes. A couple of years later, the Preakness Stakes was born.

It wasn't until the next century that the idea of the Triple Crown was created and that the Preakness Stakes became a part of it. If a horse wins the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, the horse racing world becomes electric, because that horse is on the verge of a Triple Crown.

Preakness Triple Crown

We haven't seen a Triple Crown in some time. Horses have come close, but the Belmont Stakes serves as the stumbling point. Many watch the Preakness Stakes and pray that the Kentucky Derby winner can pull the race out.