Thursday Thoughts with Jason Beem May 14, 2026

A good Thursday morning to you all! Preakness at Laurel coming up this weekend and it certainly does sound weird to type that. However, life is always changing and the Triple Crown is part of life. There’s been a lot of debate about the spacing of the races the last couple years and with the Kentucky Derby winner once again passing on the race, that talk is just going to accelerate as we move forward. But the Triple Crown series has had to wade through a lot of changes in recent years. The pandemic threw the schedule off completely in 2020. The Belmont Stakes has been run at a shorter distance several times now and at a different track all together the last couple of years. And now the Preakness will be run a few miles south of its regular home in Baltimore. 

I wish I could say that I had strong feelings one way or the other as far as the spacing of the Triple Crown. But the truth is, I'll likely be fine with however things end up. For many people, the prize is meant to be hard and meant to be completed in a short five-week period of time. For others, it’s not worth having the Preakness if most of the best horses are going to skip it anyways. I think the inevitable change will be slightly more spacing because business is so much better in Baltimore if the Triple Crown is still on the line. Just as it is for Belmont when that’s the case as well. But for many traditionalists, any horse who wins a newly spaced Triple Crown would likely have an asterisk by it in their mind. Which, those folks are always going to feel that way about any changes. You could also argue the series might be tougher because you’d be running against more top level horses than not, but again, that’s just for argument's sake right now.

The Preakness has kind of always been my favorite of the Triple Crown races. And I understand that’s kind of a hipster thing to say. It’s like saying your favorite Pearl Jam record is No Code when everyone knows the first two albums were really superior. First of all, the race is always around my birthday and every few years fall on my birthday and I love that. That means with any proposed schedule change, the tradition will be gone. Aw well.

The 1989 edition of the Preakness was what made me love the race. Sunday Silence and Easy Goer. I was 9 years-old and for some reason, that’s when racing just really started to grab me. I was out on the West Coast so of course I was a Sunday Silence fan. Easy Goer was the enemy to this kid. Their classic battle in the stretch is one of the more memorable racing events of my life. Also I loved the disparity in their silks. The black with cherry cap of the Phipps Stable on Easy Goer and Sunday Silence in his softer toned yellow and gray silks. Everything about them was different. It was just such a great rivalry. 

There’s so many classic editions of this race and whether it’s a Funny Cide or Smarty Jones opening up down the lane with eyes towards a Triple Crown, or a true battle in the lane like Swiss Skydiver and Authentic. So many good ones. I know this year’s is a little different without the Derby winner and without it being at Laurel, but there’s always a chance for something cool to happen. 

My picks for the Preakness are: 

1. Incredibolt
2. The Hell We Did
3. Ocelli