Mark Casse Eyes Silent Tactic for Laurel Park Preakness 2026
Preakness 2026 is locked for Saturday, May 16, 2026, and the race will run at Laurel Park instead of Pimlico. The 151st running returns to Pimlico in 2027, so this year’s second leg of the Triple Crown will be staged at a different track for one running.
Mark Casse still wants Silent Tactic in the mix. The colt is listed at +4000 at FanDuel after scratching from the Kentucky Derby with a foot issue, leaving his Preakness case tied to recovery rather than form alone.
Laurel Park hosts the 151st
The shift to Laurel Park is the central change for 2026. The race is set for the same 1 3/16-mile distance, which also equals 9.5 furlongs, and the field will still be built around the usual Preakness timetable.
The future wager is already open as a 40-horse pool and runs through approximately 6:00 p.m. ET on Derby Day, closing about an hour before the Kentucky Derby begins. That leaves bettors with a window to back the Preakness field before the Derby settles which horses stay on the Triple Crown path.
For readers looking at the numbers, the opening price on Silent Tactic puts him well outside the top of the board. He was beaten in the Arkansas Derby after leading in the stretch before getting caught by Renegade, which is the kind of line that can still attract interest if the horse shows enough improvement between starts.
Silent Tactic and Mark Casse
Casse’s hope centers on whether Silent Tactic can rebound from the foot issue that knocked him out of the Kentucky Derby. The trainer has reason to keep the colt in view because the Arkansas Derby effort showed he could be part of a strong pace battle at the Preakness distance.
The Preakness record at this distance still belongs to Secretariat, who ran 1:53.00 in 1973. That mark has stood for more than five decades and gives the 2026 race a clear standard at Laurel Park.
Derby timing at Laurel
The timing of the future wager matters because the Kentucky Derby had not yet been run while the pool was open. That creates a field of guesses before the Derby trims the list of realistic Preakness entrants, and recent years have shown that not every Derby horse comes back for the second jewel.
Robert M. Criscola’s advice for bettors is blunt: “Bet with your head, not over it.” For anyone watching the 2026 race from the wagering side, the choice now is whether to back Silent Tactic at +4000 before the Derby field clarifies, or wait for the race shape to come into focus at Laurel Park.
