The Preakness is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of 1+3⁄16 miles (1.9 km) with a record high purse of $1,650,000.

[1] The field also did not include Maximum Security, who crossed the finish line first in the Kentucky Derby but was disqualified for impeding other horses.

His owner indicated that without a chance of winning the Triple Crown, he felt that the two week gap between the Derby and Preakness was too short.

[2] In addition, Code of Honor and Tacitus, respectively the second- and third-place finishers in the Derby, skipped the Preakness.

This meant that for the first time since 1951, the Preakness was missing the first four horses to cross the finish line in the Derby.