A final decision on whether Silent Tactic, the probable morning-line favorite, runs in the Preakness (G1) on Saturday, will come Monday morning. Trainer Mark Casse said he will wait to see how the son of Tacitus trains at Churchill Downs
It appears, though, that the decision has been made.
Silent Tactic, owned by John Oxley, will be Maryland bound. Casse said the horse will ship to Laurel Park on Tuesday and he will fly in from his base in Ocala, Fla.
“I am pretty optimistic that he is going to run,” Casse said by phone late Sunday afternoon.
Silent Tactic has one win four starts this year with three seconds.
Silent Tactic, 20-1 on the morning line, was scratched from the Kentucky Derby because of a bruised left front foot, an issue that was declared to be minor. Since then, Casse has been training the horse with a full pad on the foot. He said Silent Tactic changed shoes on Sunday and will have glue-on shoes for his training.
"We have been training him with a full pad on his foot; it covers the bottom of his foot,” Casse said. “You don’t want to run in that (in a race) because you would not get the traction with that foot.”
Irad Ortiz Jr. has been enlisted to ride Silent Tactic, who was last seen finishing second behind Renegade – and Ortiz – in the Arkansas Derby (G1) on March 28.
The Preakness draw is scheduled for Monday between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. (ET) at Laurel
Chip Honcho In ‘Very Good Place’ Following Sunday Work
Chip Honcho completed his major training for the Preakness with a half-mile work in :50.20 Sunday morning at Churchill Downs.
Exercise rider Luiyi Ortiz was aboard for the work, which was one of trainer Steve Asmussen’s typical easy half mile moves the week of a race. Chip Honcho’s big work came May 2 on Kentucky Derby (G1) morning, when he worked five-eighths of a mile in a minute flat.
The son of Connect is scheduled to van to Laurel Park Monday morning.
“I think we’re in a very good place with him right now,” said Asmussen, whose record win total of 11,221-and-counting includes Preakness wins with Horses of the Year Curlin in 2007 and the filly Rachel Alexandra two years later. “We want to get him up there in the same shape he’s leaving here in and hope for a good draw for him.
“I’m anxious because I think we have a very good opportunity going in,” he added. “For him, I really want to avoid an outside draw.”
Chip Honcho had Post 2 when he won a Churchill Downs maiden race and the rail when he took the Gun Runner last December at Fair Grounds in his first start around two turns. In the Jan. 17 Lecomte (G3), Chip Honcho had the outermost Post 10, broke a step slowly and was five-wide on the first turn. He wound up fourth behind future Kentucky Derby hero Golden Tempo.
Chip Honcho, inside, finishes second to Paladin after setting the pace in the Risen Star (G2) at Fair Grounds Hodges Photography /Amanda Hodges
His best and fastest race came when Chip Honcho was second in the Feb.14 Risen Star (G2) at Fair Grounds, when he broke well from Post 5, set the pace and only gave way late to come in second by a half-length to the well-regarded and subsequently sidelined Paladin while easily finishing in front of Golden Tempo. Chip Honcho’s hoped-for progression hit the brakes with a well-beaten fifth in the Louisiana Derby (G2) March 21, with Asmussen and the owners deciding to skip the Kentucky Derby in favor of the Preakness.
Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Jose Ortiz, who rode Chip Honcho in his maiden victory, has the Preakness mount.
Asmussen’s more than 56,000 career starts do not include many at Laurel, he said, an exception being the fine Maryland-bred sprinter Jaxon Traveler, a millionaire who last ran at Laurel in 2022.
“Watching how the races have been running and the times of them but not being familiar with the horses that are actually doing it, it’s a new variable,” he said. “But I think we are taking a nice, solid group of horses that fit the stakes they have very well.”
Laurel Park’s main track is 14 feet shy of being 1 1/8 miles. The main finish line features a stretch that from the last turn is 1,419 feet – the longest in America. However, to accommodate the Preakness’ 1 3/16-mile distance, Saturday’s Classic will end at the first wire, shortening the stretch to 1,089 feet.
“From watching his races, good,” Asmussen said with a laugh. “Fair Grounds has two wires. If we’d used [the first] in the Risen Star we might have won. Or they might have started riding earlier.”
Brown Looking To Add To Preakness Success with Iron Honor
Trainer Chad Brown has had his share of success in the Preakness Stakes (G1).
He has started six horses in the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown and has two wins (Cloud Computing in 2017 and Early Voting in 2022) and a second (Blazing Sevens in 2023).
Brown is hoping to add to his Preakness next Saturday at Laurel Park with Iron Honor, who was last seen finishing seventh with a less-than-ideal trip as the favorite in the Wood Memorial (G2) at Aqueduct April 26.
Iron Honor was bumped hard going into the first turn and never recovered.
Iron Honor, owned by Vincent and Teresa Viola’s St. Elias Stable and William H. Lawrence, worked four furlongs in :48, 10th best of 184 at the distance) on Saturday on the training track at Belmont Park.
The son of Nyquist will have an equipment change when he makes just his fourth career start next Saturday. Brown will take the blinkers off the colt, who will be ridden for the first time by Flavien Prat. Iron Honor was equipped with blinkers when he broke his maiden in his first career start last December 13 at Aqueduct and also had them on for his one-length score in the Gotham Stakes (G3) Feb. 28.
“We’re trying to get the horse to relax and maybe not be too aggressive early,” Brown said. “I’m hoping there is some early pace in the race where he can sit back just a little bit and track horses.”
A full field of 14 is expected for the Preakness and the post-position draw is Monday. Brown is hoping Iron Honor gets a better starting point than he did in the Wood Memorial, where he was assigned Post 13.
“Ideally, he does prefer to be drawn middle to inside where he can maybe save some ground and rate,” Brown said. “Plan A would be to have a slightly different approach from a little bit off the pace, if possible.”
‘Good-Feeling Boy’ Taj Mahal Visits Track Sunday Morning
Brittany Russell spent Sunday the way she does most mornings, tending to her full stable of 40 horses at Laurel Park and managing the other 80 or so she has at the Fair Hill Training Center about 75 miles to the northeast in Elkton, Md.
On a grander scale it was also Mother’s Day for the mom of two children with her husband, jockey Sheldon Russell, who also happens to be the regular rider of undefeated Taj Mahal, her first classic contender.
“We talked about going out and I thought, ‘Man, that sounds like work,’” Brittany Russell said, laughing. “I’d love to just go home and relax with the kids.”
The big kid in her stable, Taj Mahal, emerged from Saturday’s final work for the Preakness so well that Russell scrapped a planned walk day and let the multiple stakes winner visit the main track at his normal time shortly after 6 a.m.
“He’s great. I actually decided to take him to the track, and he was a little wild,” she said. “He went the wrong way once, so he was really happy. I think we’ll probably plan on galloping tomorrow and kicking on with the week because he’s pretty fresh coming out of that work.”
“He has become that way and I think it’s now because we’ve reached a level where things have just gotten a little easier for him. Maybe that’s all it is. It’s a good sign,” she added. “When he hooks up to the pony in the afternoon, he’s got a jump in him. He’s a good-feeling boy.”
Taj Mahal posted his second straight bullet workout Saturday at Laurel, where he is based year-round, going five furlongs in 1:00.20 in company with older stakes-winning gelding Regalo. The previous week he went the same distance in 1:00.40.
Owned in a partnership group led by SF Racing, Taj Mahal went unraced at 2 and has won all three of his starts, each at Laurel.
He graduated in a six-furlong maiden special weight Feb. 6 and 15 days later was a determined neck winner of the one-mile Miracle Wood. He earned an automatic Preakness berth for his dominant 8¼-length triumph in the 1 1/8-mile Federico Tesio April 18 in his two-turn debut.
Though he came from off the pace in his unveiling after a slow start, Taj Mahal has won each of his last two in front-running fashion and Russell expects to see him utilize the same style again in the Preakness.
“I really prefer to not be parked way outside. Somewhere in the middle [would be good],” she said. “He just ran a mile and an eighth and he won from the 10-hole. I’d like for him not to have to [do that again]. He’s a good gate horse, typically. Hopefully we just kind of draw somewhere in the middle and he won’t have to sit in there too long.”
Jena Antonucci won the 2023 Belmont (G1) with Arcangelo and Cherie DeVaux captured the Kentucky Derby (G1) with Golden Tempo May 2, leaving the Preakness as the only Triple Crown race yet to be won by a female trainer. The best finish came when Magic Weisner ran second for Nancy Alberts in 2002. The most recent to try was Kelly Rubley with Alwaysmining, who ran 11th in 2019.
Tyler Gaffalione On Maiden Ocelli: We Have a Big Chance
Ocelli, trying to become the first maiden to win the Preakness Stakes (G1) in 138 years, had a routine gallop Sunday morning at Churchill Downs before he was scheduled to van to Laurel Park for Saturday’s race.
“I’m happy with how everything is going,” said trainer Whit Beckman, who will fly to Maryland on Monday afternoon.
Only victorious Golden Tempo was farther back than Ocelli in the early stages of the Kentucky Derby (G1) before both came flying through the stretch. Ocelli took the lead at the sixteenth pole, grudgingly overtaken by Golden Tempo and Renegade while losing by a total of one length. His third-place finish was the only time a winless horse has hit the board in the Kentucky Derby dating to at least 1937, the first year for which there are conclusive records.
According to available records, six previously winless horses have won the Preakness but none since Refund in 1888.
2026 Kentucky DerbyNellie Carlson Photo
“It only takes one,” jockey Tyler Gaffalione said of ending maidens’ winless streak in the Preakness. “He could definitely be that one. He definitely earned his right to be here. He’s competed against the top horses in the country and shows he deserves it. I think we have a big chance.”
Gaffalione picked up the mount on Ocelli when his scheduled Derby ride, Fulleffort, was scratched two days out.
“I’m not sure how it all went down, but we got the call the following morning after Fulleffort was scratched,” Kentucky-based Gaffalione said. “We picked up Ocelli, and I was very proud of his effort. There weren’t a lot of expectations; just to go out there and try to make the most of it. But he really showed up and fired a big one. He gave me a great thrill that we were going to win it at the sixteenth pole. Gave the partnership a great experience. Hopefully we can carry this into the Preakness.
“I don’t think I’ve ridden Laurel since maybe my first year riding,” Gaffalione said. “But I watch a lot of races. I’m familiar with the track, the way it plays. Obviously, this is all new with the Preakness being there, a different configuration. I think they said they’re going to run to the first wire, so it’s a lot of changes. I’ll definitely do our homework and study up. But the horse gives me a great impression. He looks great on the track. His energy seems to be up, so all systems go.
“It seems like it’s a pretty wide-open race. I’m pretty familiar [with the competition], getting to run against a couple of these horses in the preps early on in the year. It’s kind of hard to see now how the race is going to shape up, but we have a good idea who is going to be in there. When the entries come out, we’ll make our game plan.”
Gaffalione’s lone Triple Crown win to date came in the 2019 Preakness on War of Will.
“It’s special,” he said. “To even be able to compete in it is amazing. We’re going to take our best shot and hope for the best.”
O’Neill Looking For Robusta to Bounce Back In Preakness
|As Calumet Farm’s homebred Robusta zeroes in on the Preakness, the first thing trainer Doug O’Neill is going to do is forget about the Kentucky Derby.
In that race, Robusta, sent off as the second longest price (70.01-1) in the field of 18, was never a factor, finishing 14th after starting from Post 18.
“From that post, it was a real challenge,” O’Neill said by phone from California Sunday. “But he came out of it in super shape. He is doing well and, after consulting the Calumet team shortly after the race and after monitoring Robusta, we thought we would pencil it in and, as we are getting closer, it’s looking more like we are inking it.”
O’Neill said Robusta will ship to Laurel from Keeneland and is expected to arrive Tuesday night with assistant trainer Sabas Rivera. O’Neill said he will fly to Maryland Friday night.
Rafael Bejarano will ride Robusta in the Preakness, replacing Jaime Torres, who rode him for first time in the Derby.
“Torres did not do anything wrong,” O’Neill said. “From that post, it was a real challenge. We have had some luck with Rafael in the past and we are excited about the opportunity of him and Robusta getting to know each other.’
Since the Derby, O’Neill said Robusta has flourished at Keeneland.
“He has been doing two-minute licks and has been galloping really strong,” O’Neill said. “He has been eating great and training with good energy. He is a big, strong horse and was so fit going into the Derby. The fact that he came out so well and now, coming back in two weeks, going a shorter distance and a smaller field [a capacity group of 14 is expected to be entered in the Preakness] … I think he is up to it.”
Robusta got into the Kentucky Derby field when Right to Party was ruled out of the race the day before it was run.
Two horses from the Derby will be coming back to contest the Preakness. Ocelli, who finished third in the Run for the Roses, is also pointed to the Preakness. He had the longest odds in the Derby at 70.50-1.
Horses who did not win the Derby have had success in the Preakness.
War of Will (7th in the 2019 Derby), Oxbow (6th in 2013), Shackleford (4th in 2011) and Lookin At Lucky (6th in 2010) all won the Preakness. So too did Louis Quatorze, who was 16th in the 1996 Derby before winning the Preakness.
“Horses that come out of the Derby are so darn fit,” O’Neill said. “If they come out of it in good shape, you don’t need to do too much with them between the Derby and Preakness. We’ve got that going for us.”
The Hell We Did Has Easy Morning After Chaotic Work
It was an easy morning for Peacock Family Racing Stable homebred The Hell We Did Sunday following his chaotic final work the previous day ahead of the Preaknes.
Runner-up in the April 11 Lexington (G3) at Keeneland last time out, The Hell We Did walked the shedrow of Barn 17 on the Laurel backstretch, which he has called home since arriving from Kentucky April 28.
“We got here and gave him his breakfast. He’s feeling good and trying to play all the time,” assistant trainer and exercise rider Oscar Rojero said. “We checked him over and he looks pretty good.”
Trainer Todd Fincher flew in from his main base at Lone Star Park to oversee The Hell We Did’s final work for the Preakness, which was disrupted twice when another horse was without his rider on the track. Exercise rider Christian Olmo, up for the breeze, was able to get the Authentic colt going again and complete the work.
The Hell We Did was credited with an official time of 1:01.40 for five furlongs, second-fastest of nine horses behind fellow Preakness contender Taj Mahal. Fincher was initially discouraged with the circumstances but ultimately felt the horse got enough out of it.
“He was not in the best spot yesterday since two times he was interrupted in his workout, but at the end of the day he finished his workout and we’re happy with it. There was nothing we could do about it, it was out of our hands,” Rojero said. “I watched the replay [of the work] later on in the afternoon and I thought when the horse came back and he came into the stretch, he was moving pretty good.”
Rojero said The Hell We Did would gallop Monday morning at 7:30 after the first renovation break. The Hell We Did schooled in the Laurel Park paddock before Sunday’s second race.
Out of the Desert God mare Rose’s Desert, The Hell We Did is a younger half-brother to Senor Buscador, winner of the 2024 Saudi Cup (G1) and earner of more than $12.9 million in purses. The Hell We Did is seeking his first stakes win, having also run second in the Zia Park Juvenile last November.
The Preakness will be The Hell We Did’s fifth race at as many tracks since debuting with a maiden win in mid-October at Remington Park. He beat older horses in an open six-furlong allowance March 15 at Sunland Park and made his two-turn debut in the 1 1/16-mile Lexington.
Corona De Oro ‘Full of Life, Ready to Go’ For Preakness
On Our Own Stable LLC and partners’ Corona de Oro jogged a lap around Churchill Downs Sunday morning as he resumed training following Friday’s five-eighths of a mile work in :59.80. The Bolt d’Oro colt had his neck bowed and was bouncing as he came off the track under exercise rider Pedro Velez.
“He’s full of life, ready to go,” trainer Dallas Stewart said. “Happy as can be.”
Stewart said Corona de Oro will gallop Monday morning and leave Churchill Downs at 4 a.m. Tuesday to head to Laurel.
John Velazquez has the mount. At 54, he could become the oldest jockey to win the Preakness, surpassing Mike Smith, who was 52 when he swept the 2018 Triple Crown on Justify.
Preakness Decision Coming Sunday Evening For Great White
Trainer John Ennis said Great White continues to do well and that a final decision on entering the gelding in the Preakness is to be made after he speaks with co-owner Three Chimneys Farm Sunday evening.
Great White jogged at The Thoroughbred Center in Lexington, Ky. Sunday following an easy half mile in :52.20 Saturday.
“He’s doing great,” Ennis said by phone. “I jogged him myself a mile. He came into the barn squealing and bucking and fresh as can be. He looks really good. He felt really good, so I’ll just talk to Three Chimneys later on this evening and make a final decision.”
Napoleon Solo Exits Work Fine, Arrives At Laurel
Champagne (G1) winner Napoleon Solo arrived at Laurel Park from New York Sunday afternoon to prepare for the Preakness and will go to the track Monday morning.
Summers said Napoleon Solo was fine the morning after his half-mile work in :48.06 Saturday on the Belmont training track and walked before being loaded onto the van. It was his fourth work since the colt finished fifth, beaten by 2 ¾ lengths, in the Wood Memorial (G2) April 4. He arrived at Laurel mid-afternoon Sunday.
Napolean Solo made a splash as a 2-year-old with decisive wins in his maiden debut at Saratoga on Aug. 8 followed by a front-running 6½-length score in the Champagne (G1). He didn’t compete again until the Fountain of Youth (G2) Feb. 28, when he was prominent early but weakened to finish a well-beaten fifth. A bruised heel forced Summers to change his plans to qualify for the Kentucky Derby (G1). Despite missing a work, Napolean Solo did run in the Wood, where he led the way into the stretch.
When it didn’t look like 25 qualifying points would be enough to get into the Derby field, Summers and his connections decided to take aim at the Preakness. It turned out that the maiden Ocelli with 25 points did draw into the Derby and finished third at 70-1. Ocelli is scheduled to run in the Preakness.
Summers said Napoleon Solo is training very well for Saturday's race.
“He could have made it into the Derby at the end of the day, but we felt like this was the right race,” Summers said. “Obviously, we are interested to see how the Preakness will be at Laurel instead of Pimlico, like everybody else. Little bit of a different track. Different circumferences. This has been the race we've been pointing to since the Wood.”
Paco Lopez, who was up for the Wood, will ride Napolean Solo again the Preakness.
Bull By The Horns Ships From Florida To Maryland Sunday
Peachtree Stable and Mark Corrado’s Bull by the Horns, who breezed a half mile in :47.84 at Gulfstream Park Saturday in preparation for next Preakness, walked the shedrow at the Hallandale Beach, Fla. track Sunday morning.
Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. reported that son of Essential Quality exited his breeze in good order and was slated to ship to Laurel Park later in the day.
Bull by the Horns closed from last to capture the 1 1/16-mile Rushaway Stakes over Turfway Park’s all-weather surface March 21.
Pretty Boy Miah Pretty Much In Preakness Field
When he put in his final work for the Preakness on Saturday morning in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Pretty Boy Miah was a hopeful on the also-eligible list for the Maryland classic. By Sunday morning, as he walked at trainer Jeremiah Englehart’s barn, the Beau Liam colt had moved into the 14th and final spot in the field, a vacancy created with the defections of Express Kid and Smoovin Saturday.
Englehart said that Pretty Boy Miah came out of his half-mile breeze in :49.04 over the Oklahoma training track in fine shape and that he was looking forward to saddling his first starter in a Triple Crown race. However, aware that another entry might knock his gelding back to the also-eligible list, Englehart said he would finalize shipping plans after entries close Monday. Should he get bumped from the Preakness field, Pretty Boy Miah is likely to run in the Sir Barton Stakes on the Preakness undercard at Laurel Park.
Pretty Boy Miah has won his last two starts by comfortable margins since Englehart added blinkers for a maiden special weight race March 29 at Aqueduct. The Preakness will be Pretty Boy Miah’s stakes debut.
“These races come around just once a year and you only have one chance in a career to run in them,” Engelhart said. “I think he's always been a really nice horse. When Travis Durr was breaking him at his farm after Legion Bloodstock bought him, they kind of always had him circled as a really nice colt. He showed that coming through. He went through some growing pains going to the track. We gave him some time to kind of grow up, gelded him and it's worked out for everyone involved here so far.”
Englehart, who has been operating his public stable since 2007, paused and chuckled when asked if the Preakness was the logical next step for his speedy Kentucky-bred runner.
“Is it logical?” Englehart said. “To me, he's run numbers fast enough to compete, to get a chance, just without running in the stakes races.”
Ricardo Santana Jr. will ride Pretty Boy Miah in the Preakness.
PREAKNESS NOTES
Trainer Danny Gargan said via text Sunday morning that everything was “perfect” with his Preakness contender TALKIN, who finished third in the April 4 Blue Grass (G1) in his last start. Talkin had a walk day Sunday after Friday’s half-mile work in :47.80, the fastest of 104 at the distance that morning at Keeneland. Talkin is scheduled to have a light training day Monday and ship to Laurel Tuesday.
Robert Zoellner’s CRUPPER jogged two laps around Churchill Downs’ six-furlong Trackside training center Sunday under exercise rider David Contreras. The Donnie Von Hemel trainee earned a free berth in the Preakness by winning Oaklawn Park’s Bathhouse Row April 18 and is scheduled to van to Laurel Park Tuesday. Junior Alvarado, aboard for the first time in the Bathhouse Row, will be back in the saddle Saturday.
This story was originally published by Paulick Report on May 10, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Paulick Report as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
