Much like a hole in denim jeans or the gap in a 7-year-old's front teeth, the 2025 Preakness Stakes naturally draws the eye to what is not there than what is there. What is not there: Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty.

The 150th running of the Preakness Stakes takes place Saturday at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, with a lineup consisting of three Kentucky Derby runners-up and a remaining field of unknown entities and potential surprise winners.

The wrecking ball is just about hovering over Pimlico Race Course, with a complete knockdown and rebuild of the grandstand and other facilities coming.

Gene Menez, who hammered the Kentucky Derby exacta and trifecta for a $1,045 payout, reveals his 2025 Preakness Stakes bets and 2025 Preakness Stakes betting strategy for Pimlico Race Course

BALTIMORE — Raul Mena was a young jockey in a race in his native Chile in 2011 when the horse he was riding jumped the rail, throwing him to the ground with severe injuries. “It was a scary accident,” Mena recalled Wednesday. “I broke 24 bones in all my body, and I was in a coma for five weeks.”

The second jewel of the Triple Crown shines with traditions. Don't miss the 2025 Preakness Stakes, this Saturday, May 17, at 2:30 PM ET on Peacock.

Saturday will come soon enough. The horses are not the only game in town. The Orioles, for example, are well toward the rear of the American League East, but there is still enough time to rally and get nose-to-nose and belly-to-belly against the two cities Baltimore loves to put in its place: New York and Boston.

In 2011, jockey Raul Mena broke 24 bones and was in a coma for five weeks after getting thrown from a horse during a race in his native Chile.

A Johns Hopkins ophthalmologist has identified a gene mutation in horses that suggests why they became such good racehorses.