Profile

Held: Third Saturday in May
Track: Pimlico Baltimore, MD
Distance: 1 3/16 miles (9.5 furlongs)
Purse: $1 million
Record: 1:53 2/5 (Louis Quatorze, 1996; Tanks's Prospect, 1985)

Pimlico Race Track, or "Old Hilltop" as it is nicknamed, opened in Baltimore on October 25, 1870, and the winning horse of the first stakes race was named "Preakness". Three years later in 1873, Pimilico honored the horse by holding the Preakness Stakes, which was won by "Survivor" over a 1 1/2-mile course. Over the years the distance of the race has changed a few times:

• 1 1/2 miles: 1873 - 1888, and 1890
• 1 1/4 miles: 1889
• 1 1/16 miles: 1894-1900, and 1908
• 1 mile 70 yards: 1901-1907
• 1 mile: 1909 - 1910
• 1 1/8 miles: 1911-1924
• 1 3/16 miles: 1925 - Present