Incredibolt set for Preakness bid after sixth-place Kentucky Derby finish

Sixth place at the Kentucky Derby can look ordinary on paper, but in a Preakness season missing the Derby’s top two finishers, it reads more like a live ticket. Riley Mott decided Incredibolt deserved another shot, and the Grade 1 classic that awaits at Laurel Park gives the colt a real chance to turn a late-running Derby effort into a better result.

Mott’s call was not made on emotion. Incredibolt came out of the Derby in good shape, and the barn had been tracking the likely Preakness field closely enough to see a race that fit. The 2026 Preakness is limited to 14 starters and, with the Derby’s top two not entering, the middle jewel has opened up enough for a horse like Incredibolt to matter in a way his sixth-place finish alone does not capture. He was entered May 11 for the May 16 Preakness, and the draw for post positions was scheduled for later Monday afternoon.

The horse has already shown he can finish with purpose in different setups. Incredibolt won the Grade 3 Street Sense Stakes at Churchill Downs on October 26, 2025, then returned to take the Virginia Derby on March 14 at Colonial Downs. Those runs matter because they say something the Derby result does not fully explain: this is not just a colt who hung around; he has already produced winning efforts at two different tracks and has shown he can close from behind when the pace and position demand it.

The logistics also tell you how much confidence remains in the horse. Mott planned to keep Incredibolt at Churchill Downs for a Tuesday morning workout before loading him onto a roughly 10-hour van ride to Laurel Park, with arrival expected early Wednesday. That is a tight turnaround for any classic contender, and it makes recovery as important as talent. The fact that the team is willing to ship now says they believe the colt is handling the Triple Crown grind better than his finishing position suggests.

Jaime Torres will stay aboard, bringing a useful layer of Preakness experience to the partnership. Torres won the 2024 Preakness on Seize the Grey, and that matters in a race that will be run at Laurel for the first time while Pimlico Race Course is rebuilt in Baltimore. For Incredibolt, the path is straightforward: show that the Derby trip was only part of the story, and that a sixth-place finish was a floor, not a ceiling.