Organizers announce the 2027 Preakness Stakes will be held on the fourth Sunday in May, moving back from its prior placement on the Triple Crown calendar. The change places the Preakness 22 days after the Kentucky Derby and less than two weeks before the Belmont Stakes. The rescheduling is intended to encourage more Kentucky Derby horses to enter the second leg of the Triple Crown. Recent history has shown that some Derby winners avoid the Preakness, which is the shortest Triple Crown race. Across the past five years, Kentucky Derby winners skip the Preakness in three of those years. Sources state that the reason often involves Derby horses focusing instead on June’s Belmont Stakes, the last and longest event in the Triple Crown series. By shifting the Preakness to a later date in May, organizers aim to better align preparation and scheduling for horses coming out of the Derby, potentially increasing the number of Derby entrants in the Preakness field. The announcement comes ahead of the 2027 Triple Crown sequence.