Jose Ortiz eyes rare Derby-Preakness double at Laurel Park

Jose Ortiz steps into Saturday’s Preakness with more than a mount. On Chip Honcho, the Kentucky Derby winner has a chance to do something only Calvin Borel has done in the modern era: win the Derby and the Preakness on different horses in the same season.

Ortiz already won the Derby aboard Golden Tempo, and Golden Tempo’s path to the Belmont Stakes in June opened the door for Ortiz to take the Chip Honcho ride. That makes the Preakness more than a middle jewel assignment. It is a live swing at Triple Crown history, with Ortiz positioned to become the first jockey since Borel in 2009 to pull off the double on separate horses. In all of Triple Crown lore, only Borel and Willie Simms have done it.

The scale of the ask is part of what makes the story matter. Borel’s 2009 run began with Mine That Bird’s Derby upset and ended with Rachel Alexandra’s Preakness victory by a length. Simms, whose accomplishments remain singular, won the Derby in 1896 and 1898 and added the Preakness in 1898, according to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. That history frames what Ortiz is chasing now: not just another stakes win, but a rare line in the record book.

Chip Honcho, trained by Steve Asmussen, gives Ortiz a legitimate chance to try. Ortiz said recently that he thinks the horse gives him a real opportunity, and his willingness to take the mount reflects how thin the path can be in this game. Timing, not just talent, has delivered him here.

The race itself adds another layer. Preakness 151 is scheduled for Saturday, May 16, 2026, at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland, with Pimlico Race Course closed for major redevelopment. Laurel hosting the race marks the 17th time the Preakness has been run away from Pimlico and the first time in well over a century. That shift has already made this Triple Crown season unusual; Ortiz’s pursuit gives it a personal storyline with real stakes.

If Ortiz and Chip Honcho can finish the job, the season will produce more than a Derby winner and a Preakness winner. It will produce a rare jockey feat, a historical comparison to Borel and Simms, and a reminder that in horse racing, the biggest prizes often turn on who is available at exactly the right moment.