Tesio, Bathhouse Row offer Preakness berths at Laurel, Oaklawn

The shortest road to Preakness 151 runs through Laurel Park and Oaklawn Park, and the prize is bigger than a stakes trophy. Saturday’s Federico Tesio Stakes and Bathhouse Row Stakes both hand out automatic berths to the Preakness Stakes, turning two 1 1/8-mile races into direct gates into the middle jewel of the Triple Crown, scheduled for Saturday, May 16, 2026, at Laurel Park because Pimlico Race Course is closed for redevelopment. The Black-Eyed Susan Stakes is set for the day before, Friday, May 15.

The Tesio brings the stronger numerical punch. Ten 3-year-olds are entered in the 45th running of Laurel’s $150,000 feature, including Triple Crown-nominated Chayton, Close the Gate, Code of Silence and Wild Warrior. The field also carries the kind of recognizable names that make these races matter beyond the local calendar, with Volendam and Taj Mahal among the horses trying to turn one good Saturday into a place in the Preakness starting gate.

That win-and-in setup is the point. Nine Triple Crown-nominated horses are trying to secure a Preakness berth through the two races, and for the connections involved, a victory means no late debates, no waiting for the next prep, and no relying on points math or committee discretion. The Tesio incentive has been offered for 11 straight years, and the race has already produced 24 Preakness runners among its winners, with Pay Billy the most recent in 2025. That is not a quirky statistic. That is a pipeline.

Oaklawn’s Bathhouse Row has become the other live wire in the picture. Its eighth running drew eight sophomores for the $200,000 test, with Triple Crown-nominated Crupper and Khon Han among the horses chasing the automatic berth. The list also includes Thebabeslayer, Western Warrior and Cusp of Mischief, giving the race enough depth to matter as more than a side trip in Hot Springs. Bathhouse Row is still a young race, but its record is already real: seven runnings, three Preakness winners later, with Laughing Fox, Mr. Big News and Red Route One all converting the Oaklawn route into a start in the Triple Crown’s second leg.

Laurel and Oaklawn have also built the spring around these stakes. Laurel Park’s 2026 live-racing season was approved for 120 days and began January 9, while Oaklawn’s 2025-2026 season features 62 stakes races and more than $18 million in purses. For a few barns, Saturday is simple: win, and the Preakness becomes real. Lose, and the path gets a lot harder in a hurry.