Great White seeks rare Preakness win for geldings

Great White’s best Preakness story was made long before the starting gate. John Ennis chose to geld the gray 3-year-old because the colt was already getting too big, a management call aimed at durability and control rather than temperament. Ennis said Great White was “just getting heavy,” and believed that if he stayed a colt, he would have gotten “really heavy and thick through his neck,” making soundness harder to protect.

That is the tradeoff now hanging over the Preakness at Laurel Park: the colt path and its stallion value were sacrificed so Great White could stay lighter, more athletic and more manageable for the rigors of racing. He arrived at Laurel Park about 4 a.m. Wednesday and was expected to train Thursday with FanDuel TV analyst Andie Biancone aboard, a tight turnaround that underscored how quickly his connections had moved him from Kentucky Derby week to another Classic test. He also came out of his Kentucky Derby gate mishap without injury, leaving his Preakness chance intact.

The race itself has an unusual shape. With Pimlico Race Course being rebuilt, the 2026 Preakness is being run at Laurel for the first time and is limited to 14 starters, the first 14-horse Preakness since 2011. That matters for a gelding like Great White because every tactical edge counts in a compressed field, especially in a race that historically has rewarded horses who handled the pressure of two weeks between the Derby and Preakness. The Derby-Preakness-Belmont order was established in 1931, and the five-week spacing between the Triple Crown races was set in 1969.

If Great White wins, he would become only the eighth gelding ever to take the Preakness. Seven geldings had won it before 2026, with Funny Cide the most recent in 2003. That is rare company for a horse whose own future was shaped by a decision to protect his body rather than chase the stallion market.

Great White, by Volatile out of Kelly Bag, an Uncle Mo mare, already showed enough ability to win the John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway Park. Three Chimneys stands Volatile and owns Kelly Bag, giving the horse a breeding backdrop even though he himself has no stud career. For Great White, the question at Laurel was simple: did the gelding decision make him good enough now to matter in a Classic, even if it permanently closed off the more lucrative path later?